NORWALK, Connecticut — Two Norwalk Police Marine Unit officers pulled a kayaker to safety after finding the person in distress and clinging to flotation devices in Long Island Sound, according to the department account reported by WFSB and newly published body-camera video.
Watch the 33-second body-camera rescue video
The source-hosted WFSB video below shows the officers maneuver beside the kayak and help the person aboard the police vessel.
Video source: Norwalk Police Department body-camera footage published by WFSB. If the embedded media file does not load, use that source-page link.
Officers spot a paddle raised overhead
WFSB reported Aug. 4 that Officers Owen Lee and Chris Kassimis were called at about 4:07 p.m. to the area of the Chimmon and Cockenoe Islands after a report of a kayaker in distress.
When the Marine Unit arrived, the officers saw the kayaker signaling for help by waving a paddle overhead, the station reported. Police said the person was not wearing a life jacket but was staying afloat by holding onto two flotation devices and a life jacket.
The body-camera footage is timestamped Aug. 1, 2026. It shows rough water around the vessels as the officers pull alongside, reach for the kayaker and bring the person over the gunwale of the police boat.
Kayaker brought aboard without injury
Lee and Kassimis safely brought the kayaker aboard the police vessel. WFSB reported that the person was rescued without injury. The public report did not identify the kayaker or provide additional details, and ThinBlueNews is not adding personal information beyond what was released.
The rescue is another reminder that a wearable, properly fitted life jacket can provide immediate flotation if a paddler capsizes or becomes separated from a kayak. Boaters should also check local marine conditions and carry a reliable way to signal for help.
Readers can find more source-backed lifesaving work in ThinBlueNews' police rescue news, police hero stories, body-camera rescue videos and positive police news.
Source, video and visual attribution
- WFSB — “BODYCAM VIDEO: Norwalk police pull kayaker to safety after being found in distress off the coast,” published Aug. 4, 2026. Primary local report for the officers' names, dispatch time, location, distress signal, flotation details, rescue and injury outcome.
- WFSB source-hosted 33-second video file. Publisher-hosted Norwalk Police Department body-camera footage embedded above with the WFSB article as the fallback source page.
Featured-image note: The image is a true frame from Norwalk Police Department body-camera footage published by WFSB. The source had already blurred the kayaker's face. ThinBlueNews did not generate, reenact or substitute an unrelated water-rescue scene.
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