(Police Reports - Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg Police pulled a man in distress from the Ohio River early Sunday morning.

Officers received a report of someone struggling in the river around 1 a.m. Sunday, Parkersburg Police Capt. R.L. Koher said. The man was in a kayak on the Belpre side of the river, so officers crossed the bridge and parked at Rite Aid, where they could hear him yelling for help.

“They went down and pulled him and his kayak and backpack and everything out so he didn’t drown,” Koher said.

The man was checked by EMS personnel at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital, Koher said.