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Firefighters rescue woman after jumping off bridge

The woman was going beneath the surface and said she couldn’t swim; she was taken to a hospital for evaluation

Bangor Daily News

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Brunswick police pulled a woman from the Androscoggin River late Tuesday afternoon after she jumped from a bridge in an apparent suicide attempt.

Maine State Police notified Brunswick police at 5:43 p.m. that a woman called 911 from the Androscoggin Swinging Bridge and told them she was going to jump, Sgt. Jonathan O’Connor said at the scene.

The Androscoggin Swinging Bridge is a walking bridge that spans the river from Route 1, or Mill Street, in Brunswick to Bridge Street in Topsham.

O’Connor and Officer Terry Goan were at the Brunswick police station at the other end of Mill Street when they got the call and were at the scene 2 minutes later, according to dispatch records.

O’Connor said he ran to the bridge and could hear the woman splashing beneath him.

“She was going beneath the surface, and she was saying she couldn’t swim,” O’Connor said. “Terry got the rope, and I dove in after her. She hit the current and was starting to float, so I grabbed ahold of her.”

Downstream from the bridge, the Androscoggin flows over a dam owned by Florida Power & Light.

Goan and Assistant Marine Resources Officer Paul Plummer pulled the woman from the water, and Brunswick firefighters pulled her up the embankment.

She was taken to Mid Coast Hospital for evaluation.

Just over a week ago, a man threatened to jump from the Frank J. Wood Bridge, just downstream from the dam, but was convinced to descend from the structure by an off-duty Sweetser worker.

If you are concerned about yourself or about somebody else, call the suicide crisis hotline at 1-888-568-1112. If you are not in Maine, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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