PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Port St. Lucie police rescued a 37-year-old woman from the river near the Crosstown Parkway Bridge on Wednesday morning.
Officers from the Port St. Lucie Police Department (PSLPD) and the St. Lucie County Fire Department responded to the Crosstown Bridge between SE
Floresta Drive and South U.S. Hwy 1 at around 7:05 a.m., after receiving reports of a woman screaming for help.
WATCH: PSLPD video of water rescue
She was treading water and clinging to a pylon under the bridge. A flotation device was lowered down to the woman until the Marine Unit arrived.
She was transported to Veterans Memorial Park and then a local hospital for minor injuries to her face, apparently from mangroves in the river.
Investigators say the woman decided to cool off from walking and entered the water upriver. She told police she eventually floated down stream, unable to pull herself out.
That’s when police say passerby James Geist was walking over the Crosstown Parkway Bridge with his dog to catch a view of the river. Geist said when he looked in the distance he couldn’t believe his eyes.
"That’s when I saw the splashing way off in the distance, thought it was an animal, maybe an alligator, and then I saw a hand go up so I said it’s a person," said Geist.
He added that he "could see she was in distress and she said 'I’m stuck, I can't get out of the river,' and I said 'I’ll call 911, I’ll stay here with you.'"
