‘Body’ Floating In River Turns Out To Be A Toy

The body’s arms flailed and its pale face bobbed in the swift current of the swollen Spokane River on Saturday as the county’s dive team was quickly called for help.

Before they could arrive on scene, a second call came in.

“Whoops, it’s just a stuffed animal,” a caller told sheriff’s deputies who’d been headed to the scene for about 10 minutes.

“It was on the other side of the river, and it was hard to identify,” said one embarrassed woman who asked not to be identified. “The arms were sticking out, and it had the pale face in the middle. You could see how it could be mistaken.”

The woman, who lives on the north 8400 block of Aubrey L. White Parkway near Seven Mile Bridge, said two motorists rang her doorbell around 4 p.m. and told her they thought a body was floating in the river.

They called the sheriff’s department, then set out on foot and tracked the object from the bank.

Sheriff’s deputies got the call about 4:30 p.m. and responding units, including the dive team, were on their way for about 10 to 15 minutes before the women called back and said it was a stuffed animal, Sgt. Gerry Fojtik said.

“We don’t mind checking things out because there’s still a couple of bodies floating out there,” he said.

Two people reported to have jumped off bridges nearby are still missing, he said.

Meanwhile, the stuffed gorilla continued its journey down the river. “It’s still floating,” the woman said. “I’m hoping somebody else isn’t alarmed.”