Police officers rescue man screaming for help in Chicago River in Loop
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police rushed to rescue a man screaming for help from the Chicago River in the Loop Tuesday morning.
Police said the man was intoxicated when he jumped over a fence and decided to go for a swim.
The 29-year-old man was rescued around 1 a.m. after a security guard heard him screaming for help near Dearborn Street and Wacker Drive and called 911.
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Officers then threw the man a flotation device and pulled him out of the frigid water.
"We ran down and someone threw a life raft to him," said Officer Michael Kelly. "As we were pulling him out that is when we noticed that he was going limp and pulling him up, it was almost dead weight. We pulled him up over the railing."
Officers said the man was highly intoxicated. He told investigators he just left a party at the House of Blues when he decided to hop a fence and then jump into the frigid river to take a swim. It is not known how long he was in the water before he was rescued and rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized.
"We decided to carry him up the stairs. As we carried him the ambulance responded and we lifted him up and put him on the stretcher," said Officer Joe Reyes.
More than a dozen officers from different districts responded, each one put their life at risk to save the 29 year old.
"It could have been tragic, but we were at the right place at the right time with the help of other assisting officers from the 18th District we were able to do something good today," said Officer Andres Gomez.
A representative from Boka Restaurant Group said they had their holiday party Monday night at House of Blues, with about 2,000 attendees. They could not confirm that the victim was at the party. The party did end at 10:30 p.m., hours before he went into the water.
