‘He was fighting’: Good Samaritan recalls rescue attempt for Kings River kayaker

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Fresno County Sheriff deputies rescued a kayaker who fell into the Kings River Friday afternoon near the Pine Flat Dam. 

Deputies say the kayaker, who is a man in his mid-60s, got caught in a weir, which pulled him under the water. 

They say nearby bystanders, like Tomas Schuk, jumped into action to try to pull him out. 

“I’m looking at this guy and he reminds me of my dad. I’m like, I got to get him this rope,” Schuk, from Reedley said. 

Schuk says he was fishing with his family when suddenly everything changed. 

“I saw the gentleman’s kayak upside down. And then I saw him and he was underneath the bridge,” he said.

He says he and the people nearby found a rope and tried tossing it out to the man.

“He was fighting the current for so long and finally grabs it and we’re kind of cheering real fast and we’re like, ‘All right, we’re going to pull you to the side of the bank,'” he said.

However, it wasn’t working. 

Schuk says the man was weak from being in the frigid water. While he was able to grab onto the rope for a moment, Schuk says he saw the man start to slip. 

He says the support weirs from the bridge were in the way, and made it impossible for Schuk to pull him up. 

The man couldn’t hold on, and the river started carrying him away. 

Fresno County Sheriff Sergeant Chris Tullus says two sheriff’s sergeants who were dive training at nearby Avocado Lake made it to the river. 

“Had they not been here, he probably would have gone further down the river,” Tullus said. 

They were able to bring him out of the water, but the man was unconscious. 

They did CPR until EMS arrived and then he was taken to the hospital. 

Tullus says the man had a life jacket on, but it wasn’t zipped up.

“This is the most treacherous part of the water that we have,” he said.

He says the cold water, the fast current, and the dam all make this area so dangerous. 

Tullus says he wants people to know they need to wear their life jackets correctly, but even more so, people need to know when to stay on dry land. 

“A lifejacket is designed to keep your head above water. But with the action, the way the water works, it pulls you under. It spits you up, it pulls you under, spits you up. All it’s going to do, is do its best to keep your head out of the water and give you a fighting chance,” Tullus said. 

Tullus added Schuk and the other men who tried to rescue the man did the right thing by calling 911 and staying out of the water. He says if they were to have gone in to try to get him out, it would have likely resulted in deputies needing to rescue more people.