It was a harrowing rescue effort by deputies with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office this week when they saved a woman from the churning water of the Russian River despite her putting up a fight.

At about 4:20 p.m. on Monday, a 911 call came in reporting a child being swept down the river from Johnson’s Beach in Guerneville. At the time, the water was very cold and the river was high due to recent rains, resulting in rapids and debris.

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Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.