Watch: Navy veteran jumps into rushing Michigan river to save kayaker in distress
Sterling Heights Police Officer Nikolas Bruno was dispatched to the Clinton River and found the kayker clinging to a log.
Navy veteran police officer jumps into river to save kayaker in peril
A Sterling Heights police officer who is also a Navy veteran heroically jumped into a river in Michigan to save a first-time kayaker who was clinging to a log after her kayak overturned. Bodycam footage shows the rescue.
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – A Navy veteran-turned-police officer jumped into a river Saturday to save a first-time kayaker who was found clinging to a log.
The rescue happened on the Clinton River in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Sterling Heights Police Officer Nikolas Bruno was dispatched to the river after a report of a kayaker in distress.
The officer's body camera footage of the rescue showed him rushing out of his car to get to the river. As soon as he exited his vehicle, a woman could be heard screaming in the distance.
Once he reached the riverbank, someone could be heard begging him to help a kayaker who was hanging onto a log floating in the river.
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Officer Bruno reaches the river where the kayaker is clinging to a log.
(Sterling Heights Police Department/Facebook)
Bruno spoke to the other people in the area before removing some of his equipment and jumping into the murky waters.
The camera went underwater for a moment as the officer climbed onto a dam of tree limbs and debris that had collected in the river.
"Be careful, it's strong!" a woman yelled to the officer. "It's deep and it's strong."
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A woman clings to a log in the river as her daughter stands on a dam of logs in the river.
(Sterling Heights Police Department/Facebook)
The Sterling Heights Police Department said the woman had been kayaking with her daughter and her niece.
The woman's daughter had also lost her kayak during the ordeal.
Neither the woman in the water clinging to the log nor her daughter was wearing a life jacket.
"We should've been wearing life jackets," the first woman said.
"It's OK, just relax," Bruno said, as he jumped into the river again, and swam over to the woman on the log.
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Officer Bruno prepares to jump back into the river to save the kayaker.
(Sterling Heights Police Department/Facebook / FOX Weather)
Muffled conversation can be heard as the officer grabs a life jacket offered to him by a nearby kayaker.
After getting the life jacket on the woman, they swam to shore.
The kayaker rescued reaches the river banks with officer Bruno.
(Sterling Heights Police Department/Facebook / FOX Weather)
The woman's kayak capsized after hitting a downed tree in the river and overturned.
She told Bruno, that she hit her head on the kayak, and was barely holding onto the log when he saved her.
Officer Bruno helps the woman he saved climb up the river bank.
(Sterling Heights Police Department/Facebook / FOX Weather)
The Sterling Heights Police Department said it was the group's first time kayaking and commended Bruno for his bravery, highlighting his status as a U.S. Navy Veteran.
"His heroic actions reflect the highest standards of duty and commitment to the community," the department said in a Facebook post.