Two Baltimore welders are being hailed as heroes after pulling a carjacking victim from the water April 15 after she was reportedly thrown off a 40-foot bridge by her assailants.
Jorge Gonzalez and Ron Mencia, two welders at a south Baltimore boatyard, are credited with saving the life of an unnamed 61-year-old woman after finding her cold and shivering under a crane counterweight in the middle of a cove tributary known as Curtis Creek around 6 a.m. Saturday morning, 11 News reported.
“She started to yell, ‘Help me, help me.’ And, I said, ‘Oh my God, somebody’s out there on the water,'” Gonzalez said. “I get off the truck and start to yell, ‘Hey, somebody there?’ She started yelling to me, ‘Yes, I am here. I need help.'”
Welders save life of apparent carjacking victim found in Curtis Creek https://t.co/mMMzz0dBaM
— WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore (@wbaltv11) April 18, 2023
Much to the surprise of the welders, the woman swam a distance a local business owner surmised was about 350-400 feet in 50-degree water, the outlet reported.
After helping her onshore, Gonzalez and Mencia called 911 and provided the injured woman with warm clothes and blankets, staying with her until paramedics arrived.
“They’re both being very humble, and I think they probably don’t realize that they probably saved her life,” local business owner Kevin Smith told the outlet. Smith, co-owner of Crew Boats to Go, captured the rescue on his security cameras. “Going back and looking at the footage and seeing and hearing what they did is amazing,” he told 11 News.
The unnamed woman told law enforcement officials she had been the victim of a carjacking and was thrown into the trunk of her own car by male and female assailants after dropping off a friend in Glen Burnie around 2:30 a.m., the outlet reported. The suspects then allegedly drove to the Pennington Avenue drawbridge where they took the victim from the trunk of her car and threw her into the creek below – a drop of 38 feet according to the US Coast Guard, as reported by The Baltimore Sun. (RELATED: Colorado Police Officer Dies After Falling from 40-Foot Bridge While Pursuing Alleged Carjackers: Officials)
“This is definitely a very weird case,” Anne Arundel County police Lt. Jacklyn Davis told 11 News. “This is definitely very scary and quite terrifying, the events that this woman is saying happened to her.”
Anne Arundel County police are investigating the incident and are still searching for both suspects and the woman’s vehicle – a black 2012 Mercedes 550 sedan, the outlet reported.