Watch Calif. Police Officer Save Drowning Man with K-9's Leash

In order to save a man drowning in a canal, Antioch Police Officer Kyle Smith threw his K-9’s 30-foot leash over a chain link fence and pulled the man out of the water.

By Paloma Chavez

Source Miami Herald

Jan. 20, 2023

Antioch, CA, Police Officer Kyle Smith used a K-9's leash to pull a drowning man out of a canal Jan. 6.

A police officer used his K-9’s 30-foot leash to rescue a man drowning in a California canal, authorities said.

Officer Kyle Smith responded on Jan. 6 to witness calls about a man drowning in a canal at Deer Valley Road and Carpenteria Drive, according to a Facebook post by the Antioch Police Department.

Smith was the first to arrive at the scene and saw “a shirtless man in distress in the canal,” police said. The man said he was freezing and couldn’t feel his legs.

The officer, who is also a K-9 handler, threw his police dog’s 30-foot leash over a chain link fence separating the two men and into the canal, according to the release.

The man grabbed the leash, and “Officer Smith pulled him out of the water,” police said.

Officials did not say how the man got into the canal.

The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District arrived with a ladder to help the man get over the fence.

Police said there was a second report of a person in the canal, but officials couldn’t find another person and witnesses didn’t see anyone else there.

Antioch is 45 miles northeast of San Francisco.

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