Barmaid praised for saving distraught woman
A BARMAID from Shetland has been praised by police after she jumped into the River Clyde to rescue a woman who was trying to kill herself because her boyfriend had left her.
Angela Murray, 21, originally from Brae, was working in The Clyde Bar in Helensburgh when she saw the woman acting strangely on the breakwater across from the pub seconds before she removed her top and rushing into the water.
“I realised something was seriously wrong. It was hardly the weather for a swim. I ran out across the road down to the Clyde and waded in up to my shoulder,” said Miss Murray.
“I shouted at her to stop but she was so angry and screamed that she didn’t want me to help her and that she didn’t want to live anymore because her boyfriend had left her for someone else.”
“She tried to throw herself under the waves but eventually I got hold of her. She kept pushing me away and then one of the regulars from the bar, Davy Easton, ran in and helped me drag her out towards the shore. She kept telling me to ‘leave her alone’ but I just laughed and told her she’d made my shift more interesting.
“We got her up and Davy tried to dry her off a bit with his denim jacket. One of my co-workers had called the police so we waited for them to turn up and kept her chatting about anything we could think of.”
An ambulance was called to check her over but apart from a minor injury she was unscathed from her ordeal and she was eventually driven away by the police.
Laura Boyce, a spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police, praised the work of the “good Samaritans”. “It’s very fortunate that the barmaid and patron came to her assistance and looked after the woman. It was a brave and unselfish act from both of them especially the barmaid who was the first at the scene.”
A pub regular described the rescue as something out of Baywatch. “One minute Angela was in the pub and the next she was racing across the road, down the beach and into the water fully clothed. She didn’t hesitate for a second.”
Mr Easton, a local taxi driver who had been enjoying a quiet drink in the bar on Sunday night when the incident happened, shrugged off his contribution.
“Angela was like Zena the Warrior Princess. I did my bit but she was right in there. She didn’t even flinch when she hit the water, I think it’s the Viking in her.”
John Rappalini, owner of the Clyde Bar, said it was the sort of behaviour he had come to expect from his barmaid.
“It came as no surprise that she showed no fear and ran into the water to help the woman,” said Mr Rappalini. “It was a heroic act which is typical of the caring type of person she is.”
