Woman Saved After Jumping Off Samoa Bridge

Councilmember Larry Glass plays good Samaritan from his kayak

Humboldt Sentinel
12/28/08
By Sentinel Staff

EUREKA -- A City councilman and emergency rescuers teamed up Sunday to save the life of a woman who jumped off the Samoa Bridge.

Answering a 12:20 p.m. call about the woman, Eureka police officers arrived moments later and spotted her in the bay, still moving, beneath the bridge about 50 yards out from a dock.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Coast Guard were called, and were answering with a small boat and a helicopter as Eureka firefighters tried to swim to the woman.

The water proved too cold for them to safely reach her, and Eureka Councilmember Larry Glass, who was kayaking, was also unable to bring her within reach of thrown line because he could not paddle against the strong current while holding on to the woman.

After Deputy Roy Reynolds arrived, he and Glass managed to get the woman into an HCSO boat. Reynolds brought the woman to the boat ramp beneath the bridge, where firefighters and City Ambulance staff moved her on a gurney into an ambulance.

The woman has been taken to St Joseph Hospital for treatment of hypothermia and severe injuries from the fall.