A desperate Long Island woman with a history of emotional problems jumped off the Whitestone Bridge yesterday — and survived.
Kathleen Bluitt, a 57-year-old divorced mother of two, dived 120 feet into the frigid water at 8 a.m. only to be rescued by a Port Authority harbor crew that happened to be patrolling nearby.
Sources said the woman suffered a broken leg but was coherent before she was transported to a hospital in stable condition.
“She’s just so fortunate she’s alive,” said PA Officer Frank Misa, of the La Guardia Airport marine patrol, who rescued Bluitt with his partner, Mitchell Richter.
The cold water would have definitely killed her if she had stayed in much longer, officials said.
Bluitt’s ex-husband, Chip Whitney, said Bluitt lives in Westhampton with her daughter and two grandchildren.
“I don’t want to air her dirty laundry, but she’s had a tough life,” Whitney said.
“I know she has had bouts of depression.”