Jersey City Woman Rescued From River During Paddleboating Date

HOBOKEN, NJ — A Jersey City woman had to be rescued from the Hudson River on Thursday afternoon, police say, after she was on a paddleboating date with a Hoboken man and a wave swept her into the water.

The Jersey City woman, 24, went out on a date with a Hoboken man, also 24, said Police Lt. Danilo Cabrera. They left from a small beach on the city's north waterfront, Maxwell Place Park Beach.

"A wave threw them off balance and off the board," Cabrera said. "The male was able to get to the shoreline while the female was in distress and was holding onto a piling in the river."

A rescue boat from the New York Fire Department arrived, Cabrera said, and a rescue swimmer helped pull the woman out of the water.

Hoboken Fire Department Marine 1 Unit arrived and assisted with the rescue.

The woman was brought to Pier 13 and the Hoboken Volunteer Ambulance rendered medical aid, police said. The pair were taken to Hoboken University Medical Center.

While there were no storms on Thursday, the area's ferries and other crafts can create waves, and many people have been pulled under the water near Hoboken by the river's notorious undertow. Two Newark men drowned off of Pier C in Hoboken in 2014.

This past February, a Berkeley Heights woman had to be rescued by police after she fell into the river at night while trying to take a photo from a fenced-off section of a Hoboken pier.

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