Kayaker Saves Dog Fleeing Fatal Accident

A kayak fisherman rescued a dog that fled into the Gulf of Mexico after its jogging owner was killed by a drunk driver. Rory O'Connor found the traumatized Vizsla swimming about half a mile from Florida's Siesta Key. "He was in a lot of distress," O'Connor tells WTSP. "He was shaking, and I thought it was because he was cold, but he was traumatized. He was also pretty beat up. His legs were bloody." The fisherman, who has a dog of his own, brought the pet to shore and took him to a vet.

The vet discovered that the dog, Barney, belonged to Donna Chen, a 53-year-old mother of three who had been fatally struck by a car while out jogging with the dog earlier that afternoon. Police say the 22-year-old driver, who has been charged with DUI manslaughter, was drunk and had been ordered to leave a nearby beach. Barney has been reunited with Chen's family. "This is our one piece, our one link to Donna," said her sister-in-law. For more photos, click here. (More DUI stories.)