Large fight prompts search of Spokane River

Police and firefighters spent several hours Monday evening searching for people who reportedly jumped into the Spokane River after a large fight broke out near Minnehaha Park.

“It does not appear anybody ever entered the river to get away,” said Officer John O’Brien, spokesman for the Spokane Police Department. “It just appears they went over the edge to escape the assaulters.”

O’Brien said officers were called to the area of North Cuba Street and East Jackson Avenue at about 9 p.m. on reports that a “person with a weapon” was involved in a fight with “numerous subjects.”

By the time officers arrived, the fight already had broken up. However, witnesses told police one or two people fled by going over the river embankment directly south and into the Spokane River.

A water rescue team with the Spokane Fire Department, in addition to a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helicopter, searched the river for several hours.

“Extensive search showed no signs of anybody having gone or been in the river,” O’Brien said.

No arrests were made as of Tuesday morning, O’Brien said.