A murder-suicide attempt took place in the eastern Pennsylvania Bridge, according to public authorities. New York Daily News revealed that a 19-year-old woman took her one-year-old son from his stroller and then threw him to the Lehigh River. The river runs along the Pennsylvania Bridge. Afterwards, the mom reportedly jumped off the bridge herself. The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon, 1:45 p.m., local time.
Authorities dispatched rescuers to the scene. Upon rescue, the teen mom walked out of the Lehigh River and fainted below the bridge after a few steps. Rescuers found the infant son 700 yards away from the Pennsylvania Bridge. Allentown police captain, William Reinik said, "It took us about four minutes of trying to locate where this baby might be."
The baby was afloat fighting for his life in the river, going towards the Pennsylvania's city of Bethlehem, as reported in Mcall.com.
Policeman, Joseph Ianetta, pulled the infant out of the Lehigh River. Afterwards, he gave the baby mouth to mouth resuscitation. His colleague, John Leonard, gave CPR to the baby as well.
Reinik said if it were not for the policemen's efforts, the infant would have died. He told WFMZ, "I commend these two officers for actually going into the river and pulling him out and doing CPR. That's what saved this baby's life."
Mother and son received medical treatments at the Lehigh Valley Hospital in Cedar Crest. They were both reportedly in serious medical conditions upon arrival at the hospital.
NBCPhiladelphia.com reported that the teen mom was charged by the end of the day on Sunday with attempted homicide following the incident. She is currently detained for $100,000 bail, according to CBS News. The mom subsequently incurred charges of aggravated assault of two counts and reckless endangerment, law enforcement officials announced.
The mom is named Johnesha Perry. Neighbors have seen Perry stand along the bridge several times in the past. However, they said the incident Sunday afternoon was the first time they've witnessed the young mom did such thing to her son and herself.
A few suicides have allegedly taken place at The Hamilton Street Bridge in recent years. Allentown's Eighth Street Bridge has had more suicide incidents though. Eighth Street Bridge is currently under $18.5 million construction. Built around 1912, new fencing features are being constructed along this bridge to prevent future suicide incidents from occurring, according to Mcall.com.
