A 33-year-old woman was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and endangering the welfare of a child after throwing her 19-month-old daughter in the Hudson River yesterday. Devi Silvia, described as "distraught" and "unhinged by a fight with her husband", also jumped into the cold water in what police say was a murder-suicide attempt.
According to Maryann Ford, who was walking by the river at 70th Street, she and her friend Lane Beauchamp noticed an empty stroller on the pier. Then they saw a woman and child, Jessica Catherine Prithiviraj, in the "bobbing in the water"; Ford said, "It was just complete horror." Beauchamp called out, "Do you need any help?" but the woman just waved "as if she was just acknowledging she could hear us." Beauchamp said, "It never appeared that they were struggling but they were obviously not staying above water," so he called 911.
Police and fire rescue boats were soon on the scene, and the FDNY rescuers pulled out Silvia, who was breathing. A police marine officer rescued the child, who was not breathing, "She started foaming at the mouth. She was pretty lifeless." Another rescuer who took over said, "I tried to stimulate further sounds by rubbing and patting her back. After I got her to the ambulance, she was breathing on her own. She was cute. She had a sweater on and was probably in shock." The child had been in critical condition at New York Presbyterian Hospital, but she is reportedly walking around and playing with toys now.
After being treated, Silvia was taken to Queens Elmhurst Hospital for a psych exam. According to the Post, "Silvia has told relatives that she was deeply unhappy living in the United States because Prithiviraj worked long hours as a software executive at Oracle and frequently visited his sick mother in the area, sources said. This past weekend, he went to Boston with his parents, leaving Silvia behind." Ford told the West Side Independent that she spoke to a man who asked about the commotion; when she told him about the woman and child in the river, he said, "I think that’s my wife and child... There was an argument and my wife left." Police have also questioned the husband.
