Mother Charged with Attempted Murder of Her Baby After Retired NYPD Officer Pulls Them from River By Madison E. Goldberg

A retired New York Police Department Officer rescued a mother and her baby from a river at a park in Queens on Oct. 26.

Retired NYPD Officer Paul Pinsdorf reportedly heard screams and saw a woman walking into the East River with her baby. The incident occurred at Hermon A. MacNeil Park in the College Point neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., CBS New York reported.

“She was crying, holding it, going deeper and deeper in the water,” Pinsdorf told the outlet. “She’s saying incoherent things, so I couldn’t really make out,” the retired officer, who was nearby volunteering for a Halloween event, continued.

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Pinsdorf also alleged that the woman “did not want to come back” and that the baby was nearly underwater when he went in after them.

The 30-year-old woman allegedly waded chest-deep into the water with her five-month-old baby in her arms, according to The New York Post. The woman was transported to North Shore University Hospital for treatment, while the infant was brought to New York Presbyterian, the NYPD confirmed to the outlet.

A representative for the NYPD confirmed to PEOPLE and CBS New York that the woman, identified as 30-year-old Fei Fei Gao of Queens, was charged with attempted murder and endangering the welfare of a child. She was arrested after she was examined at the hospital.

“If Paul didn’t get here when he got there, I don’t know what would have been the outcome,” retired NYPD Officer Kevin O’Donnell told CBS New York.

O’Donnell, who happened to be at the park with Pinsdorf, once led the Community Affairs Office at the NYPD’s 109th Precinct in Queens, per The New York Post.

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“The woman was stressing over something,” Brock Weiner, who is also a retired NYPD officer, told CBS New York. “She was fighting him, but she wouldn’t let go the baby.”