Ahead of the holiday weekend, a 51-year-old was attempting to swim from Shenorock Shore Club restaurant across to his home on Hix Avenue before going missing in Milton Harbor waters.
Emergency service personnel responded to a call of a missing swimmer at around 11 p.m. on Friday night, when a witness reported Kenneth Niejadlik, 51, had taken off his clothes at the Shenorock Shore Club docks and told people he was going to swim home.
When police responded to the scene, the witness said they hadn’t seen him in 15 minutes.
Rye police launched an infrared drone to aid in the search, and ended up locating Niejadlik close to the Marshlands Conservancy shoreline.
When the marine unit showed up to the swimmer’s location, they said he “attempted to evade police” but got stuck in the mud on the shoreline. As a result, officers were able to catch Niejadlik and transport him to emergency services at the American Yacht Club. He was then taken to Greenwich Hospital with minor injuries.
The Marshlands Conservancy search and rescue was nearly a callback to last year’s Labor Day rescue, when a hiker suffered a severe head injury in the conservancy after slipping on some rocks.
Rye PD’s drone program is relatively new. Over the last five years the department has purchased two drones and has trained six officers to operate them, according to the department.
