James P. McGee, 28, electrician, saved a woman patient of a state hospital from drowning, New York, New York, January 7, 1957. The woman, a mental patient, left the hospital unobserved. Some time later a truck driver noticed a person in the Harlem River opposite the bank of a park adjoining the hospital grounds and informed McGee of the situation. As McGee ran toward the park with a seven foot rope, he found a woman’s hospital coat on the bank and realized that the person in the water was one of the patients. McGee climbed a fence and ran to the bank opposite the woman, completing a total run of 1,000 feet. From atop a wall three feet above the water, he tossed one end of the rope to within four feet of the woman, who began to sink. Although he only recently had recovered from tuberculosis, McGee jumped fully clothed into the near-freezing water and swam 50 feet to the woman, who was floating just beneath the surface in water 15 feet deep. McGee held her head above water as he towed her back to the bank, impeded by her weight and his own clothing as well as the current. Tired and winded, he secured footing in water five feet deep and climbed onto the wall, maintaining his hold on the woman. Two men then arrived and pulled the woman from the water. She revived, told the men where she resided, and then collapsed. She was removed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead of heart failure. McGee was fatigued and later suffered a heavy cold but recovered. 44091-4144
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