TRENDING STORY: 5 shot, 2 dead in Liberty Twp. shootings: What happened this week
He asked a man who was fishing from shore if he saw someone drowning.
“He’s right over there,” the fisherman said pointing toward the bridge.
The man who appeared to be in his 70s wasn’t wearing a life vest and was pinned by a log against a concrete pillar under the bridge, Richardson said. Richardson kayaked out to the man and realized the river was about six feet deep.
He dumped the water out of the man’s submerged canoe, then lifted him into the canoe. Richardson said the man was unable to swim because he had injured his right leg earlier in a motorcycle accident.
Richardson pushed the canoe and his kayak to shore as Middletown paramedics arrived. The man, who was canoeing with two friends, was treated at the scene, Richardson said.
Middletown police dispatches received three 911 calls from witnesses who said they saw a man holding onto branches after capsizing his canoe. The man was described as about 70 years old with “a long Santa beard.”
The water incident could have been deadly because the man was pinned under the log and the current was swift, Richardson said.
“He would have been in trouble,” he said.
Richardson, 49, of Middletown, didn’t get the man’s name, but said he told him later: “I can’t thank you enough. I was in trouble. You saved me.”
Does Richardson, an Army veteran, consider himself a hero?
“I don’t look at it like that,” he said. “I was glad I was here to help.”
The kayak business just opened Friday after being closed due to the coronavirus. Richardson said he plans to add a full kitchen, bar and two patios to the business, 2401 Carmody Blvd.
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