Man who plummeted 50′ after jumping from bridge into Sacramento River rescued

July 22, 2021 Trevor Montgomery

REDDING, Calif., — Shasta County Sheriff’s Boating Safety Unit deputies were instrumental in pulling a resistant man from the Sacramento River after the subject leaped from the North Market Street Bridge, plummeting approximately 50 feet into the cold water below, yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, July 21.

Official radio traffic at the time indicated that the man did not want any help being pulled from the river and resisted officials offers for assistance. However, he was eventually pulled onto a Sheriff’s boat by deputies and officers, once they determined he was beginning to succumb to hypothermia due to the water’s temperature, reported to be in the low 50s this time of year.

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City of Redding emergency personnel were alerted to the crisis around 1:50 p.m. when a witness called 911 and reported that a man in his early 30s with long hair and a tattoo between his shoulder blades had just jumped off the North Market Street Bridge into the Sacramento River.

The caller reported the man had landed in the water feet first and was floating downriver near the Rodeo Grounds boat launch. Within minutes, the swift-moving current had carried the man past the Sundial Bridge.

Boating Safety Unit deputies and Redding police officers are seen pulling a man into a Sheriff’s vessel after the man jumped into the Sacramento River from the North Market Street Bridge. SCSO photos

Due to the nature of the rescue, members of the Sheriff’s Boating Safety Unit responded to the scene in a patrol boat to assist patrol officers and others, who were standing by and ready to help as needed.

Boating Unit deputies and police officers made contact with the man around 2:20 p.m. and immediately attempted to rescue him from the water; however, the subject initially refused their offers for help.

As they continued talking to the man and attempted to throw a rescue line and floatation device to him several times, he refused help and would not make any effort to grab either.

According to radio traffic, about ten minutes later deputies at the scene reported, “He’s in distress and too hypothermic to grab onto the lines”, and they began discussing options for getting the subject into the boat.

Although the man resisted official’s efforts to help him, rescuers were eventually able to pull him onto their boat and transport him to a waiting ambulance. He was then transported to an area hospital for treatment of hypothermia. SCSO photo

About 15 minutes later deputies updated that they had rescued the man.

“After resisting help and then becoming too cold to grab throw lines, Officers and Deputies were eventually able to get him into the boat,” Shasta County Sheriff’s officials later explained.

After pulling the subject into the Sheriff’s vessel, deputies transported him to waiting emergency personnel so they could evaluate and treat him. He was later transported to an area hospital for treatment of hypothermia, due to being in the cold water for the prior hour.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.