BUFFALO, N.Y. – Authorities in Buffalo say a Canadian man used a rubber raft to cross the Niagara River and enter the U.S. during Monday's brutally cold conditions.
All so he could pay a credit card bill in person.
State troopers and firefighters pulled 40-year-old Wayne Kingwell of Fort Erie, Ontario, to safety on the U.S. side of the river near Grand Island Monday morning.
Authorities say Kingwell told them he set out in his raft around 2 a.m. with the intention of paying off a credit-card bill in Buffalo. He told police he's charged an $85 fee if he mails the payment from Canada to the U.S.
Officials said Kingwell also told them he can't drive across the nearby Peace Bridge connecting Ontario and New York because of a past legal dispute with the Canadian government.
Kingwell was taken to a local hospital to be treated for hypothermia. Afterward he was taken into custody by the U.S. Border Patrol and now faces a charge of illegally trying to enter the U.S.
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