BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati police officers pulled a woman off the flooded steps of the Serpentine Wall on Saturday night, preventing her from getting caught in the swift current inches away.
Police found the woman standing on the steps neck deep in the Ohio River about 10 p.m. Saturday after someone reported seeing her in the water. She screamed at officers to stay back, threatening to fling herself into the rushing water in an apparent suicide attempt, said Lt. James Whalen.
"That water was freezing and moving very fast," Lt. Whalen said. "If she'd taken one more step, she'd have been gone."
In water that cold, a person can lose muscle control in four minutes, and the woman might not have been able to pull herself out if she had remained in the water much longer, Lt. Whalen said.
The river, swollen from recent heavy rains, was sweeping higher than usual across the wall, a winding series of deep steps running the length of Yeatman's Cove park and leading into the river.
Sgt. Peter Ridder waded down the steps into knee-deep water and began talking to the woman. He offered her a cigarette, luring her closer to him.
As she leaned to reach the cigarette, Sgt. Ridder grabbed her arm. She began to fight, and three other officers had to help pull her up the steps and out of the water, Lt. Whalen said.
The woman, 34, of downtown, was treated at University Hospital.
