Rescue training turns into real deal as boater, divers save woman from Spokane River

A Good Samaritan and Spokane County Sheriff’s divers rescued a woman Wednesday from the Spokane River while the divers were conducting dive rescue training nearby.

The divers with the sheriff’s Emergency Operations Team, as well as the Boise Fire Department and Seattle Fire Department, were attending the training around 11 a.m. when Deputy Thad Schultz noticed the distressed woman in the water near Boulder Beach, according to a sheriff’s office news release.

Deputies Travis Pendell and Stefan Moore, and dive team volunteer Jake Polson, donned their swift water rescue gear and entered the water to help the woman, who was in the middle of the river, the release said. A man boating nearby heard the commotion and came over to help.

The woman appeared extremely tired, and her face was underwater but she was still floating, deputies said. Pendell started holding the woman up while encouraging her.

She would not put on the extra life jacket Pendell brought with him, the sheriff’s office said. The woman seemed delusional and was placed in protective custody after the boater drove her to shore.

Spokane County Fire District 9 provided aid and an ambulance took her to get treatment, deputies said.