Illegal dumping was friend's dying wish

Police wrote a citation of illegal dumping to a Des Moines man on Sunday evening, despite his explanation that he was building a reef.

Tony Dean Lane, 48, of Des Moines, admitted throwing a blue recliner in the water at Riverview Park after police observed a cushion floating on the surface and the recliner mostly submerged near the middle of the pond.

A witness told police he watched Lane walking across a pedestrian bridge with the recliner over his head and asked him what he intended to do with it. Lane's explanation was that he frequently went fishing there with a friend who is now deceased and he was going to start a reef at that spot.

Officers said Lane was released after receiving the citation. They said in a report: "He told us he dumped the recliner as a request from his dead friend" and added it was his friend's dying wish. Lane was very emotional over the loss of his friend, officers said in the report.