UPDATE: Elderly driver killed when car slid into Mohawk River

PHOTOGRAPHER: David Lombardo

A futile search for an elderly women’s car ended tragically tonight when the woman’s body was pulled from the Mohawk River in the Stockade district.

Police received a brief distress call about 7:55 p.m. from an elderly woman, Schenectady police Sgt. Matthew Dearing said. After telling police she needed help, the line went dead before the dispatcher could obtain additional information. The call did last long enough for police to track the caller’s location to the vicinity of North Ferry Street.

At least two officers were dispatched to search for the woman, Dearing said, and they found her car on rocks leading into the water. As officers approached the ledge her car had gone down, Dearing said they watched it roll into the water.

The officers could see the woman was still in the car at the time, but they were not aware of her physical condition when she went into the water.

Responders struggled to find the vehicle because of the current moving it from its initial location, but about 10 p.m., with fire engines, police cars, a helicopter and two boats watching and a handful of divers in the river, the woman’s body was pulled from the water and taken away.

The woman’s name was not released, and police were not sure how the accident had occured.