Internet rumor about arrested Texas flood rescuer is AI-enabled fabrication

"Texas Man Faces #Jail for Saving Lives by Boat," says a July 9, 2025 Facebook post, which includes an apparent booking photo beside another image of a man carrying an old woman through floodwaters.

"During the height of last week's historic flooding in #Kerr County, Texas, 42-year-old #DeshawnMiller was arrested after using his personal bass boat to rescue at least nine elderly residents trapped in a flooded retirement complex," the Facebook post continues, describing the man as a former HVAC technician and father of two.

It went on to claim: "Despite the outpouring of praise online, Miller was later taken into custody by local deputies and cited for violating an emergency management plan, operating an unregistered vessel in restricted floodwaters, and interfering with official rescue operations."

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Screenshot from Facebook taken July 11, 2025

The same narrative, which says Miller was released on bond July 5 and scheduled to appear in court within the month, ricocheted across platforms, with similar posts popping up on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.

The alleged hero's tale spread after more than 120 people, including at least 27 girls and counselors from a youth summer camp, were killed as catastrophic floods tore through Texas during the Fourth of July holiday. US President Donald Trump visited the southern border state July 11 as the search through mounds of debris and mud continued.

But while the story of a "Deshawn Miller" rescuing elderly victims of the storm may seem compelling -- and prompted a flurry of outraged responses defending his actions online -- there is no evidence it is real.

Kerr County public records showed no jail or criminal case records for anyone with that name during an AFP review July 14.

A spokesperson for the Kerr County Joint Information Center told AFP in a July 12 email: "A person by that name has NOT been booked into the Kerr County Jail."

AI-generated

The story and associated images originated with the TikTok account @itysk, a page that regularly posts AI-generated mug shots alongside similar tales of alleged arrests. The account's other fictitious stories range from a duo jailed for feeding stray cats to a mail carrier facing charges for recycling junk mail to a woman issued a citation for patching a beat-up sidewalk frequented by the elderly.

Each of the page's posts -- including the video about "Deshawn Miller" -- is marked with a tag saying: "Creator labeled as AI-generated."

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Screenshot from TikTok taken July 14, 2025, with elements outlined by AFP

"The post you referenced -- featuring Deshawn Miller, the fictional former HVAC tech -- is entirely AI-generated and satirical," Wesley Cray, the owner of the TikTok channel, told AFP in a July 11 direct message.

"The person and story are not real. I created both the character and the situation using AI tools as part of a series intended to spark discussion about misplaced authority, petty enforcement and the absurdity of some real-life arrests in America."

Cray, who told AFP he created the images using DALL-E and other AI tools, said all his content is made-up and "follows the same fictional format: technically illegal actions that most people would agree with, exaggerated into fake arrests to highlight real-world injustices and bureaucratic overreach."

"My goal with the channel is to blend believable storytelling with absurdity in a way that encourages people to think about how we treat acts of decency when they clash with rules or red tape," he said.

He said he labels all his content with TikTok's AI disclaimers but understands that those warnings are often left behind when the videos get shared elsewhere. He previously spoke to the Kansas City Star in June after another video, claiming an electrician in the city had been arrested for fixing broken lights at a local park, racked up millions of views (archived here).

Siwei Lyu, director of the Media Forensic Lab at the University at Buffalo, independently analyzed the images for AFP and confirmed they have "a high likelihood of being AI-generated" (archived here).

He noted that the hands in the rescue image have "strange configurations," while the mug shot "shows symmetry and lighting that are common in AI-generated portraits," including a plain background reminiscent of outputs from DALL-E, Midjourney and other AI-creation tools. Both images feature unusually smooth textures.

"This is a new type of disinformation," Lyu said in a July 13 email. "I think with the ease of AI-generation, we are going to see more sophisticated cases like this in the future."

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation about the Texas floods here and here.