Lake Charles woman saves man on overturned kayak in Prien Lake

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - One lake Charles woman had quite the experience after she jumped in the frigid waters of Prien Lake.

Nikki Lafuria was just relaxing Thursday when she noticed a man in a kayak in the lake outside her home.

She tells 7News, shortly after, the man appeared to need help.

“Being that it was really windy and really cold, I tried to throw a tube out, but it was so windy it just left,” Lafuria said.

Lafuria then tried to help the man another way, but learned she didn’t know how to work their boat lift. Time became crucial when the man’s kayak flipped.

The entire ordeal was caught on the Lafuria’s outdoor camera.

“He was trying to swim, and he started going underwater, so I told my husband, I was on the phone with him, I said oh my God he’s drowning, I have to go in,” Lafuria said.

Her husband Mark couldn’t get home fast enough and was pulled over for speeding. The police officer followed him home after Mark Lafuria told him what was happening.

“I said look, my wife is home and she said someone is drowning and he was like, okay, I’ll follow you home,” he said.

Nikki Lafuria was finally able to coax the man out of the water, and he was later taken to a local hospital.

“I knew that when I saw him go under water that he had taken in water, so I was a little nervous but I’m a faithful person, so I felt like God would take care of us, so I jumped in and luckily we are all okay,” she said.

Due to patient privacy laws, the hospital was unable to give us an update on the man.

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