Mom Throws Baby, Self Off Bridge, Both Survive: Cops

Johnesha Perry charged with attempted homicide
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2015 11:17 AM CDT
Mom Throws Baby, Self Off Bridge, Both Survive: Cops
Police say a woman threw her baby and herself into a river.   (Shutterstock)

A 19-year-old Pennsylvania mom tossed her 1-year-old son off a 52-foot-high bridge into a shallow river before she jumped in, police say. Authorities believe the incident in Allentown was an attempted murder-suicide, ABC 6 reports. But both the baby and the mother are likely to survive thanks to witnesses' calls to police, Lehigh Valley Live reports. Authorities found the woman under the bridge; reports conflict over whether she was conscious. And in less than five minutes, they had found the baby, too, some 700 yards downstream.

Officers performed mouth-to-mouth and CPR on the baby before both mother and child were hurried to the hospital. "The officers basically saved this baby's life," says a police captain, calling the work "spectacular." The mother, who had minor injuries, has been identified as Johnesha Perry. She has been charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment, NBC 10 reports. Police say she was aware of what she was doing, WFMZ notes; her bail has been set at $100,000. (More Pennsylvania stories.)

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