Woman pulled from American River on Saturday expected to survive

A 35-year-old woman who went into the water at Discovery Park while trying to avoid an altercation with a group of transients is expected to survive, the Sacramento Fire Department said Saturday.

The woman was seen floating Saturday morning in the American River at Tiscornia Beach, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers, and was reached quickly because a boat from Sacramento Fire Station 2 already was on the river about a quarter-mile away when she went into the water, said fire spokesman Chris Harvey.

A county ranger recognized her as being part of a group of transients in that area and called for help after seeing her enter the water from shore, he said.

The unidentified woman was transported to a local hospital. No additional medical details were released.

“She was trying to get away from somebody,” Harvey said. “There was a little bit of a transient group of people, and she was perhaps intoxicated or under the influence and went into the water.

“She was floating on the top and she was breathing, but she wouldn’t have been floating much longer. She was kind of unresponsive.”

The area has been the scene of multiple drownings in recent years, and this year’s tally of drownings has been especially bad. Authorities estimate 13 people have died in incidents in the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento County this year, twice the normal amount.

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