Volunteers getting ready for a parade and festival in Queens— including a retired police officer — helped save a distraught woman carrying a 5-month-old baby while walking into the East River.
The workers spotted the 30-year-old woman with an infant in her arms as she stepped into the water Sunday around 11:49 a.m. at Hermon A. MacNeil Park near Poppenhauser Ave. and College Place in College Point, cops said.
They rushed over to drag both the woman and baby to safety as they stepped in chest-deep waters, cops said.
“I saw the woman in the water with the baby. We called 911. I went in the water, she resisted me — her mind was lost,” retired police officer Paul Pinsdorf, who rushed to the aid of the woman after he heard bystanders shouting, told ABC7.
“I had to manhandle … pull her back. She resisted the whole time. Thankfully it worked out,” Pinsdorf added.
The child was taken by EMS to New York Presbyterian Queens Hospital in stable condition.
Cops took the woman into custody; charges are pending. EMS transported her to North Shore University Hospital.
The woman suffered from depression, police sources said.
The relationship between the woman and infant were unclear, cops said.
