Woman jumps into Detroit River to save dog from drowning, gets arrested for being drunk

WYANDOTTE, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Wyandotte woman dove into the Detroit River to save a dog, that wasn't even her own. But the hero's story took a turn.

"Trying to save a dog, you guys found public intoxication," said the woman on body camera.

"It was pretty obvious she was highly intoxicated," said Wyandotte Police Chief Archie Hamilton.

The woman blew double digits at 11 a.m. Friday morning. It turns out her heroism involved liquid courage and a big heart.

"You’re not jumping into a swimming pool here this is some real danger," Hamilton said. "She did a good thing, she risked her own personal safety, she likely saved that dog’s life."

The dog belonged to an elderly woman, who says the groomer didn’t put it's harness on tight enough. He slipped out – and right into the Detroit River, in Wyandotte's Bishop Park.

"The elderly woman, when this happens, is frantic," Hamilton said. "That’s her baby. and she starts screaming. Well, this woman comes out of nowhere and jumps into the river to save the dog."

She floated on her back with the pup on her chest until firefighters got there. The dog made it back on shore, then the woman.

But when it came to chat with police for a simple report – everything took a turn.

"Once they get the woman out, just for the basic police report, they asked for her name, for some identification," Hamilton said. "She refuses to give her name."

The woman had warrants - nothing too serious - but misdemeanors.

Then, Chief Hamilton said, she became mad.

"She actually claimed that the dog's owner, the elderly female, maliciously threw the dog in the water and kicked the dog," Hamilton said. "We could not corroborate this at all."

Even the deputy chief showed up to try and convince the woman to just take a ride home from his officers.

"They wanted to go ahead and give her a break, they wanted to just drive her home," he said.

Finally – the chief says that officers had no choice but to arrest her on public intoxication charges.

A good deed – gone awry. At least the dog will be ok, and this latest charge is just a misdemeanor.

"I would guess she probably needs help and hopefully this will propel her to get the help she truly needs," Hamilton said.

A woman who claims to be the one who saved the pup reached out to FOX 2 on Facebook. She said it was an obviously scary situation, but says she "would do it a million times over."