Bellingham man pulls dog from Gulf of Mexico after fatal crash on shore

A Bellingham man kayaking in the Gulf of Mexico was shocked Saturday to find a dog swimming up to his kayak off the coast of Florida.

The dog was found more than a half-mile offshore near Sarasota.

Rory O'Connor inadvertently recorded the bizarre incident and uploaded it to his YouTube page before he knew how the dog came to be in the water:

"I thought maybe he had fallen off a boat of something, unbeknownst to the owner,"  O'Connor told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Gary Horcher. “I knew it was probably trouble, because you know, he was coming straight toward me and he had a look of terror in his eyes.”

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the dog, a Hungarian Vizsla named Barney, was on a walk with its owner when a drunken driving suspect struck the two. The owner, 53-year-old mother of three Donna Chen, died at the scene and Barney ran away.

Once O'Connor pulled the dog into the kayak, he could tell the dog was badly injured and was shaking and traumatized.

"I noticed that his legs were kind of beat up. They were bleeding. I thought maybe it's because of the rocks. There's a lot of rock's around there," said O'Connor.

O'Connor took the dog ashore. His sister, who was on the beach with her family, identified the canine as a Vizsla and suggested the dog might have a microchip. The family then took the dog to a nearby vet.

 

The dog did have a microchip, and the veterinarian's office contacted Chen's family — and learned about the accident. It's still a mystery how or why the dog ended up a mile from where the crash happened and in the water.

 

O'Connor said Barney is recovering, and said he is thankful that the dog is back with the Chen family.

 

 

"I felt lucky that I was there when the dog swam up to me because it's awful that (Chen's children)  lost their mother.  It would have been even more awful to have lost their dog as well," said O'Connor.

 

O'Connor believes the dog must had had a sense about who could help him.

The suspect in the crash has been charged with DUI manslaughter and is being held without bail.