ISP Trooper saves kayaker’s life

SPENCER CO., IN (WFIE) - Around 4:30 Tuesday afternoon Indiana State Trooper Kaitlyn Greene was patrolling on Old Orchard Road near County Road 400 North when she saw a woman waving for help because her husband was clinging on to a metal culvert pipe.

"His kayak got swept through," Trooper Greene said. "His kayak went under the road to the other side and his body caught and he held on to the culvert and it was just his arms and his head was the only thing sticking out. We grabbed a life jacket, tried to get it around him but we couldn't get it around him with the current it was pushing on it too far. We grabbed a throwback and put it underneath his arms and around his back that way we could held pull him up and give him a little bit of a break."

Shortly after Greene says the man was able to push away from the culvert, and lift up enough to where Greene and a few good Samaritans could pull him out. Had they not been around, Greene says the outcome could've been a lot worse.

"Normally with search and rescues we are doing recoveries," Greene said. "So it's kind of a breath of fresh air to be able to do a rescue and make sure he got home."

The victim was treated and released on scene by Spencer County EMS. Greene says her mom came and drove the man, his wife, and their two kayaks back to a spot with calmer water.

We're told the couple kayaked backed to their house because they are flooded out.

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