Two men help rescue suicidal woman from San Gabriel River in Long Beach

Robert Smith was fishing with his grandson about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday when he heard the crashing noise that tued out to be the sound of a vehicle tumbling into the San Gabriel River.

A short time later, Smith and another man were swimming in the San Gabriel’s rising waters, struggling to rescue a woman who appeared to have tried to end her own life by drowning into the river. Although Smith and a Long Beach Fire Department battalion chief at the scene said the woman fought against her rescuers, her rescuers managed to pull her out of the water before she sustained any serious physical injuries.

“The second I pulled her out, the second (we) pulled her out, the car went under,” Smith said, after relating how by that moment, a state Fish and Wildlife warden had also swam into the river to aid in the rescue. Smith, who lives in Westminster, said he is a retired carpenter who now works as a tram operator for Disneyland. The job, he acknowledged, requires him to cover up his several tattoos, inked by his own son, that include a Latin cross and several skeletal warriors.

Wednesday, Smith and grandson Christian had cast their lines at a spot that’s a short distance away from where the river flows below the Pacific Coast Highway bridge. Smith said that’s not his usual fishing spot, but said his grandson wanted to try fishing there.

Smith said that after hearing a loud noise coming from the river’s direction, he approached the river’s easte bank to find out what happened and encountered another bystander. The men saw a vehicle bobbing in the river and ran across the PCH bridge to the river’s weste bank in order to aid the motorist.

Smith swam toward the car and said the woman inside the vehicle resisted his efforts to help, even swimming back into the sinking vehicle after being extricated during the rescue effort.

A third responder, who Smith said was a Fish and Wildlife warden, arrived after he and the other man had entered the river. The warden swam into the water and helped pull the woman to safety.

Long Beach responders, including lifeguards and paramedics, were also on scene.

Battalion Chief Mike Garcia said the woman used a small access road along the river’s weste bank to approach the waterway before purposefully driving into the river. Garcia said no one else appeared to be in the vehicle and that the woman will receive medical care.

“She is going to be transported to a facility to get the help that she needs,” Garcia said.

He also credited Smith and the other man with saving the woman’s life.

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“It would be a different response for us had they not stepped in,” he said.

Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Brian Fisk said by telephone Wednesday afteoon that the woman required medical care for minor injuries and that no one else was in the vehicle when it went into the water. Fisk also said he could not formally confirm the incident was an attempted suicide.

Anyone who may be considering suicide can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the name of the Califoia Fish and Wildlife Department.