Nelson police say a 48-year-old man is lucky to be alive after his kayak capsized near the orange bridge this afternoon.
Officers on duty were tied up at the time, but a reservist immediately took the police boat to the scene around 12:30 p.m., where the man was found clinging to his partner’s kayak.
The reservist pulled the man from the water into the police boat. He was taken to the shoreline and attended to by paramedics and firefighters. The man wasn’t wearing a life jacket but did have one in the kayak.
“Approximately 90 per cent of people who drown in recreational boating incidents are not wearing a life jacket,” Sgt. Dino Falcone said in a news release. “Even if you have one on board, conditions like rough winds and waves, and cold water can make it really hard, if not impossible, to find it and put it on.
“People who fall into cold water drown more often from their body’s initial reaction to the change in temperature (cold shock and swimming failure) than from low body temperature (hypothermia).”
Paramedic assaulted
Police say a paramedic who treated a drunk man Saturday was assaulted.
Around 5 p.m., some people walking in the 800 block of Front St. near the railway tracks came across a 48-year-old man lying on the ground who appeared to be drunk. They called police, who responded within minutes along with the BC Ambulance service and Nelson firefighters.
While being treated in the ambulance, the man assaulted one of the paramedics, who suffered a minor injury, Falcone said.
The man, who is well known to police, was taken to hospital and released shortly afterward to police who took him to jail. He was released on strict conditions and a promise to appear in court on June 7 on charges of assault, uttering threats and being drunk in public.
Charges pending in fight
A 28-year-old East Kootenay man is facing charges following a fight at a Nelson hotel early this morning.
Police say they were called at 2 a.m. to a report of two men fighting in one of the rooms. After speaking to several witnesses, they arrested the man on two counts of assault, assaulting a police officer, and resisting arrest.
The man was released later that morning on a promise to appear in court on June 7.
Noisy neighbour arrested
A 41-year-old woman who disturbed her apartment building neighbours from late last evening into this morning was arrested downtown shortly before noon today.
Police were called several times by upset tenants throughout the morning until the woman, who was drunk and well known to police, was arrested downtown shortly before noon.
She was jailed and released without incident once sober.