VERO BEACH — A 73-year-old woman was pulled from the Indian River Lagoon Friday morning after boaters were encouraged by police overhead on the Merrill Barber Bridge to help search for a woman who had jumped from the bridge.
The woman was found clinging to the bridge structure on the north end of the bridge and stayed with the boaters while an Indian River County Fire Rescue boat arrived on scene.
The woman was flown to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center and is reported to be in good condition early this afternoon.
The woman was discovered when an animal control officer spotted an abandoned car on the bridge at 9:37 a.m. The officer then called police. Three minutes later, a police officer arrived on scene.
At the very moment the officer was calling in the vehicle’s tag number, the woman’s husband was on the phone also calling in the tag number and telling a dispatcher that his wife was missing.
The husband told emergency workers that the woman was depressed and may have jumped from the bridge.
