Officer First Class David Brown was off duty at the Lander boat ramp in Frederick County getting ready to go for a waterfowl hunt with friends when he heard what sounded like a person screaming for help in the distance, according to a spokesperson for the agency.
Without hesitation, Brown leaped into action, as he and his friends launched their boat and headed toward the shouts, where they found a 40-year-old woman holding on to a rock with one hand and grabbing a submerged kayak with the other.
The woman said that her kayak had capsized hours earlier, and Brown was able to pull the woman to safety onto his boat and called for an ambulance.
She was met back at the boat ramp by paramedics, and she was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of hypothermia, officials said.
Brown noted that the woman was wearing her lifejacket when she fell out of the kayak, which “likely saved her life.”
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