Woman rescued from Ohio River after fleeing scene of crash, jumping into water

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman was rescued from the Ohio River on Tuesday after fleeing from the scene of a car crash and jumping into the water in order to dodge police, Moon Township police said.

RAW VIDEO: Chopper 11 over scene of Ohio River water rescue

Investigators said the incident began around 1:30 p.m., when the 35-year-old woman crashed her car into a median between Route 51 and the Sewickley Bridge in Sewickley. Authorities said she then tried to get a ride from a stranger in a separate car who stopped at the scene to help her.

A short time later, she ran away from responding officers down an embankment before jumping into the river, which Severe Weather Team 11 said was 54 degrees at the time.

Moon Township Police Chief Leo McCarthy said during the rescue one of his officers nearly lost control of his cruiser in deep rocks near the embankment. The police department’s military-style Humvee was brought to the scene to pull the cruiser to safety, the police chief said.

McCarthy said that in his 40 years of service, he’s never experienced such a situation.

“I’m guessing (she was in the water for) about 45 minutes. You have to understand, she went in the Moon Township side and went all the way over to the Sewickley side and went downstream a quarter of a mile. I mean, she was in the river a considerable distance,” he said.

A nearby tug boat came to the woman’s rescue, but Chopper 11 captured her trying to fight off the good Samaritans from Campbell Transportation who jumped in the water to save her.

“She did resist them getting out of the water and getting onto shore. She has been resistant all the way over to the hospital,” McCarthy said. “We don’t have the names of the young men who jumped off of that barge into the river to rescue her. She fought with them. We’re going to get their names, so they can get credit for this save because they did save her, even though she didn’t want to be saved.”

Authorities were able to track down the men responsible for helping to save the woman: Capt. Thomas Shirley, deckhand Jonathan Murphy and pilot Wayne Abercrombie.

“We threw the life jacket a couple times. She didn’t want to get it, so I did what I thought was the best thing to do,” Murphy told Channel 11 News.

He jumped into the river to help pull the woman to safety.

"She fought me like no other, but I thought that she was just scared for her life,” Murphy said.

After a bit of a battle, the men were able to hold the woman until police could get to her.

“I’m real proud of them. All the training we went through. They did a real good job tonight,” Shirley said.

The woman was taken to a hospital to be treated for hypothermia but is expected to be OK, police said. Her name was not released since authorities requested that she be committed for a mental-health evaluation.

She’s expected to face criminal charges for fleeing from police.

Cox Media Group