Cops Grab Canoe to Save Elderly Man

Police officers in coastal Connecticut grabbed a nearby canoe belonging to a private citizen instead of waiting for a police boat when they located a missing elderly man early Tuesday. The Westport officers paddled to the rescue after spotting the man partially submerged off Saugatuck Shores Beach, reports the Hartford Courant. "One officer held the man’s head above the water while several others lifted him into the canoe," police said in a Facebook post. "Once the man was safely in the canoe he was brought to the shoreline where personnel from the Westport Fire Department assisted with removing him from the vessel and then brought him to waiting EMS personnel."

Police Lt. David Wolf said the officers started searching the area around 6am after a report of a missing older man, per NBC Connecticut. He said the rescued man was hospitalized and his injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Westport Police Chief Foti Koskinas praised the officers for the speedy rescue. "There is no doubt that these officers’ quick thinking and superior teamwork led to a positive outcome," he said. (Two brothers in Maine were saved by Boy Scouts after their canoes capsized.)