Look before you leap 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Forgetting the old adage "Look before you leap" almost cost David Alcorn his life.
Recalling his father's advice about swimming the Missouri River helped save it.
Alcorn, 26, of St. Charles, fell about 60 feet from the Highway 370 bridge early Tuesday and crashed into the fast-moving
Missouri. He floated. He swam. He struggled - and sometimes sank. After about three hours, he dragged himself ashore about
five miles downstream. Then he walked a mile to a house to get help.
During his ordeal, Bridgeton police and St. Charles authorities searched the dark river. Said his father, also David Alcorn:
"When I heard he'd fallen in the river, I thought I'd never see my son again."
Tuesday afternoon, the younger Alcorn was resting at the family home on Eighth Street in St. Charles. He declined interviews.
His father said his son had suffered a badly bruised lung and left leg, but signed himself out of St. Joseph's Health Center in St.
Charles after treatment.
Once home, the younger Alcorn said he had followed the advice his father had given him as a boy.
"We used to live by the Missouri River, and he learned to swim in it," the elder Alcorn said. "I always told him that if you ever
got in trouble on the river, get yourself going with the current and just angle yourself toward the shore."
The bridge opened in 1992 and is known as the Discovery Bridge. With four traffic lanes on each of its two spans, it carries
about 62,000 motorists a day between Bridgeton and St. Charles.
The incident began after midnight Tuesday. Alcorn's father and authorities said this is what happened:
The younger Alcorn and a friend drove across the 370 bridge into Bridgeton. Alcorn's 1989 Chevrolet Cavalier broke down
near the Earth City Expressway exit, about a mile east of the bridge.
Alcorn parked his car, and about 12:40 a.m., the two began walking back toward St. Charles, on the westbound span of the
bridge. The friend's name has not been released.
The two tried to flag down motorists for a lift to St. Charles. No luck. So Alcorn decided to switch over to the eastbound span
- about 10 feet to the south. He climbed up between the iron bridge supports and onto a three-foot concrete barrier.
He was underwater for what seemed a long time. When he finally surfaced, he went with the current, pointing himself toward
the shore. Alcorn swam and floated, then swam and floated some more, going under more than a few times.
"He said he was sure a couple of times he was going to drown," his father said.
About five miles north of the bridge, Alcorn's foot hit some sort of rock dike. He crawled along it until he reached land. Then he
collapsed and passed out.
When he woke up, he walked for what seemed a long time until he found a house. It was about 4:40 a.m. and he was in the
5400 block of Black Walnut Road, about a mile from the river. The residents called police, and Alcorn was taken to St.
Joseph's.
"He's very lucky," the elder Alcorn said. "Not many people can say they swam the Missouri River."
(1) Color Photo By Kevin Manning/Post-Dispatch - The Discovery Bridge on Highway 370, where David Alcorn of St. Charles
fell between the two spans and into the Missouri River about 60 feet below early Tuesday. Alcorn, 26, managed to float and
swim to safety downstream.
(2) Map By The Post-Dispatch - Struggle In River
General map showing the St. Louis area.
Detail map showing the location of where Alcorn fell from the Discovery Bridge into the Missouri River, his route in the river,
where he managed to reach shore and where he found a house from which the resident called police. The following text
appeared as partof the map:
1. Around 1 a.m., David Alcorn jumps between the eastbound and westbound spans and falls 60 feet to the river.
2. Alcorn floats and swims for about five miles until he hits a rock dike and crawls ashore.
3. About 4:40 a.m., Alcorn finds a house. Residents call police. Alcorn is taken to St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles.
Personal Note: Between the Bridge Spans there is no bridge decking as he soon found out. Submitted on 03/04/02
Submitted by:
E. Rueder
Reference:
St.Louis Post Dispatch 6/25/97
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