Another River Rescue.
It's 2am on a Thursday night last September 2022 and I'm after picking up a major pot-bellied, well-drunk 35'ish year-old man from the Grand Parade as a street taxi fare heading northside, he rambles on about all the usual bull regarding getting taxies by night and as it's just a short fare I just 'Nod and Smile'.
As we cross over the north gate bridge he says to me; "Did you see HER on the bridge ?",
I said; "Who ?",
He says; "The one sitting on the railing of the bridge in the pink top",
Me; "Are you sure ? I didn't see anyone",
Him; "Yea, I'm sure, we better go back fer her, I'd be dreading reading about her in the morning",
Me; "OK, were her legs on the street side or the river side ?",
Him; "The river side !",
Me; "OK, we better go back so".
So we pull a U-turn about 50 meters up the road on Shandon street and drive back down with no sign of anyone sitting on the railings of the bridge. I put on the full lights and spot a girl outside the bridge railings over the river holding on with both hands, she is standing low in a crouched position with her feet on the ledge and with her backside dangling over the river. I immediately ring Garda headquarters in Anglesea street and report the incident. It was indeed the young girl that my customer had spotted in the pink top.
My taxi customer was the 'worse fer wear' and starting to nod off in the back of the cab as we parked up at the end of the bridge outside the Gate cinema about 20 meters from where the girl was........ and I was left alone with the predicament of what to do ??
Do I wait fer Garda assistance as she dangles from the bridge ? Or do I go and help her ?
I stand out of the cab while trying to make my mind up, in the full knowledge that if the girl see's me approaching she just might let go of the railings and immediately fall backwards in to the river below, which just happened to be very inconveniently at almost full tide.
Another Taxi stops at the opposite end of the bridge by the Friary bar next to O'Conner's funeral home and two gay lads who were having a 'domestic' exit the cab and continue their argument on the street. I see the back of the girl's head looking over at the two lads arguing and I approach her very quietly while she is looking the other way and I manage to get to her somewhat stealthily without her seeing me and swiftly grab her by the arm above and below the elbow through the railings and she makes little effort to resist, she is crying and drooling from the mouth and making no sense at all as I try to comfort her and encourage her to stand up but she does not respond to me at all. I still had a good firm grip of her arm and I call my taxi customer over who has exited my cab and is 'Flipping Looking on' with arms folded, eventually he ambles up and I tell him sternly; "Grab her other arm", which he does, but much too feebly fer my liking, and then I call out to the two gay lads to help and they join us and I tell them the same; "Grab an arm and hold on tight !" as the girl is now trying to pull away from us. The girl drops some credit card sized cards from her hand on to the footpath on the bridge and I see her I.D. on one the cards and we call her by her name but she is still not responding to any of us at all but instead trying to pull away even more.
Then a random 'Mr Handsome hero' arrives on the scene looking like and thinking that he is 'Chuck Norris' and about to take over the incident that I am now directing. I have my crew in place, the drunk and the two gay lads all under strict instruction to just 'Hold on'. My thinking being that as long as the four of us just hold on then the girl is safe and no one dies here tonight and when the Gardai get here, then it is their show from there. Mr Handsome hero tells me that he doesn't know her and he has other ideas different to mine and starts telling the lads what to do, I totally ignore him and reiterate my comments to the crew; "HOLD ON TIGHT LADS, DON'T LET GO, THE GUARDS BE HERE SOON". Mr Handsome hero is not impressed with the lads ignoring his instructions and instead following mine, and he takes to trying to talk and woo to the almost comatose young lass over the railing, but getting no response. Anyway it was a welcome distracting moment fer us, if not slightly embarrassing fer Mr Handsome hero.
Age and experience of the city by night were at play, I know how long it takes the Gardai to arrive at a city centre river incident and it is always under five minutes. I also know the Lee and while it may well look like a paddling pool on the surface, the currents below can be wicked and add in debris of all types on the river bed that can trap anyone in the water. Two UCC students went fer a night-time dip in that same North channel about 50 meters from where our incident was occurring back in 2009, only one of them came home, and I was well aware of that fact as our situation was ongoing.
Thankfully the Gardai were on the scene within three or four minutes with two paddy wagons, No sirens or Flashing Blues, No engine's revving or screech's of brakes, obviously not the Guards first time coming upon an incident like this where any sudden movement or noise could trigger a jumper to jump. Three male Guards and one female Guard. I said to the Gardai; "There is four of us holding her, she ain't going anywhere". Fair dinkum to the female guard, she was the only one who went over the railings and stood outside on the ledge over the river, and between all of us we managed to hoist the lass back over the railings to safety. Not as easy a job as it sounds as four of us had our grip on her Through the railings which we had to let go of in order to hoist her up and over, but we managed to get it done between us. Mr Handsome hero not to be outdone was sat next to her on the ground holding and cuddling her after we had her back over the railings safely.
The most senior of the Guards made a phone call and had the Fire brigade stood down. I gave that Guard the cards that the girl had dropped from her hand and the Guard thanked us all fer our efforts. Not meaning to be disrespectful of gay men but I think the two gay lads were in total shock about what had just happened, and also in shock that they themselves had helped to save a young girls life. Without the help of the two lads working in a team effort on split-second notice we may not have got that girl Home. I have no idea of whom they were but I am proud to refer to them as my colleagues on the night.
'Job Done', I asked the Guard was it OK to leave and I got the all-clear from him. I dropped my original customer home and didn't charge him anything, he said to me on leaving; "I'll F'n sleep well after all that", and I replied to him; "No, you won't, you most likely have an adrenalin rush on the go, if you have any alcohol at home then best to have a few sups off it before bed !".
He said to me; "I've a half bottle of whiskey inside, that might do the trick !",
I told him; "It might ? This is not my first time doing this and believe me, you don't sleep well after it !".
I worked on fer the rest of the night in a very solemn mood, quite numbed by the near tragic incident. Out of curiosity as I had the young girls name, I looked her up on facebook when I finished my shift because she was a bit of a mess on the bridge that night. She was a very lovely looking young lady, I'm guessing aged no more that 20 years old if that at all with thousands of posts/friends/likes/Etc on facebook, and I can't help but to wonder what she was doing dangling off the north gate bridge at 2am in the morning ??
