Suicide Foiled by Local: Former Charlotte Court House Woman Rescues Man from Icy Potomac Waters

Lena Wang (right) and another Potomac Boat Club rower on the dock with the DC Harbor Patrol and DC Fire and Rescue. The Key Bridge is in the background. Photo courtsey Sadie Quarrier

It was around 6:45 a.m. On February 20, when Sadie Quarrier and Lena Wang were at the Potomac Boat Club gearing up for their first row of the year on the Potomac River.

“What was that splash?” asked Wang, as she and Quarrier were just about to climb in their two-person rowing shell. The two looked in the direction of the noise and the thought crossed their minds that it might be a jumper off of the nearly 100-foot Key Bridge, which wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in the area.

Quarrier and Wang hopped in their boat and moved quickly to get over to the area where they initially heard the splash. Upon getting closer, they noticed a young man who Quarrier assumed to be in his mid-20’s, moaning in the water.

“Do you need help?” asked Quarrier. The man indicated that he wanted to be helped, reaching for the side of the boat and almost tipping it over. At this point Quarrier knew she had to act quickly for the safety of the young man and their own.

Quarrier grabbed her cell phone and began calling the rowing coach, who was the only other person that would be out on the chilly Potomac waters at that time in the morning. There was no answer, so she sent a quick text alerting the coach to the situation that was going on.

“Don’t call the police!” the guy exclaimed, according to Quarrier. Because she did not want to alarm the young man and possibly risk putting them all in a dangerous situation, Quarrier called 911 and stayed on the phone with the operator until reaching the dock, but pretended to be on the phone with someone else. Wang was helping the young man the entire time this was going on.

While trying to get back to the dock, another two-person rowing shell pulled up and helped to create a stable platform so the boat wouldn’t flip over into the 39 degree water. They were then able to pull the man’s body into one boat and legs into the other, distributing weight between the two racing shells that aren’t made to hold a third person. Quarrier reported that she soon began to hear sirens all over, but asked the dispatcher to tell the police to cut the sirens so the man wouldn’t panic. After the police arrived, the young man was taken to the hospital and Wang’s calls to the D.C. Public Information Line to follow-up on the case have yet to be returned.

“Fate was on all of our sides that morning,” said Quarrier. Although the young man wasn’t necessarily identified as a jumper, Quarrier believes that he was possibly in a desperate situation of some kind. However, she hopes that the help of strangers was enough to start him on a better path.

Sadie Quarrier originally hails from Charlotte Court House, Va.; however, she currently resides in Washington, D.C. Her parents, David and Penny Quarrier still live in the area.