after 7" rain
Norwalk river is very flashy
Woman Doreen Wallace, 50, found floating in river
Victim James Lind 46 found several days later
2 people paddling in pond above 40' dam in double rec kayak washed over dam
John Nickerson, Staff Writer
Published: 09:08 p.m., Monday, October 4, 2010
WILTON -- After searching throughout the weekend, Wilton police at noon Monday found the body of missing Wilton kayaker James Lind, 46, in the Norwalk River.Rescue teams had been searching for Lind since the body of his girlfriend, Doreen Wallace, was found Friday near Cannon Road in Wilton, where they lived. Police said both died of apparent drowning. At a press conference at the Wilton Police Department to announce the finding of Lind's body, Wilton Fire Chief Paul Milositz said neither appeared to be wearing a life preserver, and the river was moving quickly at the time of the apparent accident.
Wilton Police Chief Michael Lombardi said Lind and Wallace launched their two-person kayak into the swollen Norwalk River at about 5:15 p.m. Friday. At around 6 p.m., Wallace's unconscious body was found by authorities in the river. More than 5 inches of rain fell in the area as the remnants of a tropical storm moved through Friday.Lombardi said he did not want to speculate about what could have caused the two to fall into the river and drown, although he acknowledged police ask residents to stay off the river when it is moving quickly. "Upon removal of branches and other debris in the river, the body was able to be removed from the water and brought to land and subsequently identified as James Lind," Lombardi said during the news conference.The body was taken to the Farmington office of the chief medical examiner for an autopsy. Police said they found the body near School Road, about half a mile north of Wilton Center. The body may have drifted as much as a mile south from where it was found on Friday, Lombardi said.
Lombardi said Wilton police and fire department personnel along with the Wilton Dive/Rescue Teamsearched the area Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday with the assistance of the Westport Fire Department Dive Team .While divers searched the deeper parts of the water, the river's shallows were inspected by teams, who would at times walk the river five abreast in hopes of finding Lind's body, Lombardi said.An empty two-person kayak owned by Lind was found near Wallace's body Friday. Witnesses in the area reported seeing the couple in the kayak about 45 minutes before Wallace's body was reported floating in the river.
Woman fights for life, man still missing after kayak capsizes in Norwalk River
October 2nd, 2010
By STEVE KOBAK Villager Staff Writer
WILTON -- A woman is fighting for her life and emergency crews were hunting for a missing man late Friday night after the rapids in the Wilton stretch of the Norwalk River appeared to toss them off their kayak, police said. Initial reports indicated that the woman -- whose name and age has not been released -- had drowned, but Wilton Police Chief Michael Lombardo said that as of 9:30 p.m., the woman was being treated for life-threatening injuries at Norwalk Hospital. The man had not been found as of 10 p.m. Friday.
"We have very few details as to how this incident may have occurred," Lombardo said. Police and fire crews were still actively combing a wide stretch of the river and searching for the male victim at press time. Wilton Fire Chief Paul Milositz said two bystanders saw the unconscious woman floating in the water and pulled her onto the riverbank near Cannon Grange shortly before 6 p.m. Police said a yellow kayak and a paddle were recovered from the river, but they stopped short of saying that the items belonged to the victims. Witnesses told police that they had seen a man in the kayak with the woman shortly before the unconscious woman was discovered in the river, police said. Lombardo said the investigation was still ongoing, and police only knew that it was "possible" that the man was on board.
Emergency crews were called to Cannon Grange at 6 p.m., and the incident -- which was first reported as a drowning -- sparked a massive response. Norwalk police officers and firefighters assisted in the search, and a helicopter from the Stratford Police Department was en route to the scene at 9:45 p.m. A mobile command station was set up inside Cannon Grange, wherein the police chief and fire chief as well as high-ranking officers gathered information and organized the response. Members of the Wilton Fire Department's Dive and Rescue Team spent three hours combing a short stretch of the Norwalk River in the vicinity of Cannon Road. Firefighters made their way through knee-deep chilly waters, shining flashlights in the river and the brush and rocks surrounding it. Bright spotlights from a fire trucks cut through the thick darkness on the portion of the river near the Cannon Street bridge.
Further down the river, a Norwalk fire truck shined its spotlight onto the river on the bridge near the Soundview Medical Center, as firefighters and police officers shined flashlights into the brush and looked to see if the missing man's body was floating downstream. A crew was also looking for the man in the stretch of the river near the bridge on Wall Street. Lombardo cautioned kayakers to stay out of the river as the recent rainfall has intensified its current.
Kayaker still missing October 2, 2010 at 4:20 pm by Brittany Lyte
The Wilton fire department confirmed at 4:13 p.m. Saturday that James Lind, 46, of Wilton is still missing nearly 24 hours after his kayaking partner was found unconscious beside a capsized two-person kayak in the Norwalk River.The empty, overturned two-person kayak was spotted in the rain-swollen river near Cannon Road by bystanders around 6:09 p.m., according to police.When emergency responders arrived, they discovered the body of Doreen Wallace, 50, of Cannon Road, lying unconscious beside the capsized kayak. Although CPR was administered to Wallace, she was pronounced dead a short time later at Norwalk Hospital.Anyone who may have information concerning the whereabouts of Lind is urged to call the Wilton Police Department at 203-834-6260.
UPDATE: Overboard Kayaker Transported to Hospital, Search for Second Kayaker Continues
The dive team is on the scene as police continue to patrol a section of the Norwalk River near Wilton's Cannondale train station. A two-person kayak was recovered and rescuers continue to search for the second kayaker. The Wilton Fire Department reports that the second victim in Friday night's kayaking incident has not been found as of Saturday morning. Police and Fire Departments are resuming the search today.
Around 6 p.m. Friday, a woman was seen floating in the water after falling out of her kayak. Two employees of The Schoolhouse Restaurant located in Cannondale Village were able to pull her from the rushing river and EMS transported her to Norwalk Hospital with life-threatening injuries. A search for the second kayaker — an adult male wearing blue jeans and a gray shirt — continued well into the night and resumes this morning. Anyone with information is asked to call 203-834-6260. Read below for the full story on Friday night's search.
Update 10:20 p.m. Nearly four hours after a woman was pulled from the Norwalk River after falling out of a kayak early Friday evening, Wilton Police and Fire Departments report the search for a second kayaker remains under way. A helicopter from Fairfield is currently searching overhead and instructing Wilton rescuers on where to search.
Both kayakers were initially noticed paddling the river at 5:15 p.m, Wilton Fire Chief Paul Milositz said in a news briefing outside The Barn at Cannon Crossing on Cannon Road. They were sharing a two-person kayak. Police did not say how far up the river they were originally spotted or detail the relationship of the kayakers. A dive team continues to patrol the river from Wilton to Norwalk looking for an adult male, wearing blue jeans and a gray shirt, Wilton Police Chief Michael Lombardo said in the briefing near the Cannondale train station.
The woman kayaker who was transported to the hospital was first seen floating in the river around 6 p.m. by employees of The Schoolhouse Restaurant. Carl Strate, who busses tables there, said he saw the kayak floating down the river and 15 seconds later, he saw a person not wearing a life jacket. "I immediately started to run (toward the overboard kayaker)," Strate said, adding that he was followed by the Schoolhouse owner and chef Tim LaBant. "I followed the river past the bridge and we both jumped in and caught her." Strate said the woman was breathing faintly, her eyes were "hazed" and she was "foaming at the mouth." She also had a gash in her forehead, which Strate said could have resulted from kayaking over a dam upriver.
As Strate and LaBant ran to the woman's aid, another Schoolhouse employee called 9-1-1. "We pulled her out and got her ashore," Strate said. "She was completely unconscious." Strate said the river was "very high and very fast" because of the rain and storms over the past two days, which could have caused the kayakers to lose control. Police and fire officials are not releasing a cause of the accident and say "it's early in the investigation." However, Lombardo did caution residents to avoid going in water when it is moving rapidly.
After Strate and LaBant rescued the woman from the rushing river, emergency responders arrived about two minutes later and immediately began to perform CPR. The call came into the Wilton Emergency Dispatch Center at 6:09 p.m. and by 6:37 p.m., the ambulance was en route to Norwalk Hospital. Update 8:14 p.m. A woman has been transported to Norwalk Hospital with life-threatening injuries after apparently falling out of a kayak and into the rushing Norwalk River, police say.
According to Lt. Donald Wakeman of the Wilton Police Department, police have recovered a two-person kayak and a paddle and are still patrolling the river in case a second person was with the victim. Wilton police and fire officials along a stretch of the river near the Cannondale Train Station. Norwalk police are stationed further downriver. The area has received more than six inches of rain over the past two days, according to reports from the National Weather Service.
Wilton Police and Fire Departments are patrolling the Norwalk River on Cannon Road tonight, after reports of a potential drowning victim. A single yellow kayak was found in the river and firefighters and EMS transported one person by ambulance. Wilton police received a call reporting an overturned kayak at 6:09 p.m. Emergency responders are patrolling the river and surrounding area. When they found the yellow kayak, a firefighter turned it over and yelled, "The kayak is flipped. There's nobody in it." Officials on the scene have not been able to comment as of 7 p.m.
Police Recover Body of James Lind
By Christian Camerota
The body was found just south of where the Norwalk River passes under Route 7 around 12 p.m. on Monday.
October 4, 2010 Wilton police and rescue workers recovered the body of Wiltonian James Lind at 12 p.m. on Monday afternoon.The discovery was the culmination of over three days of vigorous searching along the tumescent Norwalk River, where Lind and his reported girlfriend, Doreen Wallace, had been kayaking on Friday night."At about noon time today the body of a white male was located in the vicinity of School Rd. and Pimpewaug Rd. in the river," said Police Chief Michael Lombardo at a 3 p.m. news conference.Though the cause of the incident is still under investigation, a combination of bad weather and a fast-moving current are believed to be at fault for both Wallace and Lind's deaths.
Officials said neither Lind nor Wallace are believed to have been wearing personal flotation devices or helmets. As Patch reported Friday evening Carl Strate, a busser at the Schoolhouse Restaurant, pulled Wallace from the river and reported that she was "breathing faintly, her eyes were hazed and she was foaming at the mouth." She was unconscious and also had a gash in her forehead, which Strate said could have resulted from kayaking over a dam upriver.Lind's body was ultimately recovered about a mile south of where Wallace was pulled from the river.
According to Lombardo, Lind's body is being transported to the Connecticut Medical Examiner's office. Wilton Police Lieutenant Don Wakeman said the results of the autopsy will not be available for six to eight weeks and police officials said they would not speculate on the exact cause of death in the interim.If the cause of death does prove to be drowning, Lombardo said it would be the first case reported in Wilton in a long time."It's been quite a while [since we've had such an incident]," Lombardo said. "It's been more than a few years since we've had a drowning, probably at least four or five years."
Lombardo did not say whether the town would be implementing any new regulations surrounding river use after the incident, but he did say the police department will likely send out alerts and warnings in the future when bad weather makes for threatening conditions."Especially during storms and heavy rains, people should stay out of the water," Lombardo said. "It's a lethal combination."Lombardo and First Selectman Bill Brennan both commended Wilton's police, fire, EMS and rescue workers for their hard work and cooperation. They also touted the efforts and assistance from surrounding towns like Norwalk and Westport that devoted workers and resources to the effort.On Monday, about a dozen members of the Wilton Dive Rescue Team, as well as a number of on-shift members of the fire and police departments were present to help discover and recover Lind's body.
