A naked 20-year-old woman was pulled from the East River Thursday morning after she jumped in near the Williamsburg Bridge, police said.
A 21-year-old man who was passing by jumped in after her to try to save her at about 5:45 a.m., cops said, but when she went under the water, he lost sight of her.
He was able to get himself out of the water by the time police arrived, Officer Vincent Fulgieri with the Emergency Service Unit said at a news conference.
The woman swam south of the bridge and under Pier 36, Fulgieri said. She stayed under the pier as officers tried to talk with her, but she was “incoherent” and “just screaming and yelling,” an officer with the NYPD Harbor Unit said.
Members of @NYPDSpecialops ESU and Harbor Unit worked jointly to save a woman who jumped into the East River this morning. They were able to track her from the Williamsburg Br to the Manhattan Br where they entered the water to save her. #NYPDprotecting pic.twitter.com/Od0fSFu1sd
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 2, 2018
She continued to swim and emerged toward the end of the pier, Fulgieri said.
“She was very despondent and did not have any desire to come out of the water,” he said.
Fulgieri and another ESU member went into the water and grabbed her, bringing her safely onto a Harbor Unit boat, he said.
The woman was in the water for about an hour.
Both the woman and the man who had tried to rescue her were taken to NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, an FDNY spokeswoman said.
