Rory O’Connor was trolling the Gulf Coast in a kayak when he caught an unusual moment on film: a dog appeared out of nowhere, swimming up to his kayak. O’Connor posted the video to his YouTube account, writing:

The accident scene was about a mile from where I found Barney swimming. Our guess is that he was so freaked out and traumatized that he just wanted to get as far away from there as possible. And when he ran out of land, he took to the water. I feel lucky that I was there fishing, because there was no place for him to go and I don’t know if he could have made it much farther. He’s banged up, but fine. Our hearts go out to the family who lost their mother.

Barney’s owner was 53-year-old Donna L. Chen, who was taking him for a walk. Both were struck by a vehicle belonging to 22-year-old Blake Talman.

Barney fled the scene and jumped into the Gulf of Mexico.

More here…