Woman sustains injuries jumping off James Bridge
James Bridge on Highway PP in 2017, after it was rebuilt following the 2017 flood. Photo courtesy of Aerial Ozarks.
An unidentified river-goer, thought to be a 45-year-old Florida woman, was injured Saturday when she jumped feet-first off the James Bridge into the North Fork of the White River, which is estimated to be 4 1/2 to 5 feet deep at that point.
At 4:33 p.m. Saturday, the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department dispatched Tecumseh Volunteer Fire Department first responders, Ozark County Ambulance and Air Evac, which responded along with an emergency medical technician who happened to be floating the North Fork that afternoon with some other medical personnel.
The deck of the James Bridge, on PP Highway near Dawt, is estimated to be 20 to 25 feet above the water. The river-floating EMT, who asked not to be identified, said he believed the woman was part of a group from Florida that had been on the river that day. After the woman hit the water and was injured, the EMT said he thought she was carried on a kayak to a site on the riverbank where she could be reached by the emergency responders, who treated her for a suspected broken ankle and broken femur and prepared her for the Air Evac flight to Cox South Hospital in Springfield.
The woman’s identity and condition are unknown.