Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 28, 1993 TAG: 9307280053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FAIRLAWN LENGTH: Short
That ended the peaceful afternoon.
Tichner looked up and saw a young woman swimming toward shore who had jumped about 40 feet from Peppers Ferry bridge on Virginia 114.
"She was kind of whining," said Tichner. "She got to shore, smoked a cigarette and said she was fine."
The woman's high dive was not fine, however, with Montgomery County authorities.
They charged Carolyn McCarty, 20, of Blacksburg with loitering on a bridge, a misdemeanor.
Authorities said she suffered minor cuts to her back but refused medical treatment.
The New River beneath the bridge is deep, even deep enough to be used for scuba diving training.
McCarty and others apparently were counting on that depth when they climbed over a bridge abutment and jumped off around 3 p.m.
Tichner said she heard at least one splash before McCarty landed in the river, but police didn't catch any other would-be Olympic high divers.
The incident tied up sheriff's deputies from Montgomery and Pulaski counties and two rescue units from Pulaski for an hour.
The initial emergency call reported a possible drowning. Pulaski had a rescue boat hauled to the scene before McCarty said she was the one who jumped off the bridge.
Officers at the scene were thumbing through the code books looking for something with which to charge McCarty.
"It's not against the law to jump off a bridge, if that's what they want to do," one officer said.
by CNB