Philadelphia Police were searching for an unidentified man in the Schuylkill River yesterday after he was seen struggling in the water below the Schuylkill Expressway. Police said they do not know whether the man jumped, slipped or was pushed from the expressway's off ramp between the Walnut and South Street bridges at 2:16 p.m. The Philadelphia police marine unit ended yesterday's search for the man at nightfall. After two divers were unable to locate the individual, a police boat dragged the river bottom but did not find the man. Police said they plan to continue the search today. Witnesses described the person as a white, middle-aged man with gray hair, wearing a red and white shirt. No one saw how the man entered the water, but he apparently tried to swim to the east shore of the river before slipping beneath the surface about 30 to 40 feet from the bank, according to police reports. Scores of people crowded the Walnut and South Street bridges as police vehicles and fire trucks surrounded the scene. At about 3:20 p.m., the marine unit switched divers. But after more than another hour of searching, the divers left the scene frustrated. "That's like diving in the Grand Canyon," Officer Ron Templeman shouted as he left the water. "There are big boulders and large crevices. I can't conduct a good search pattern." One witness, College senior Giles Bedford, said that as he was crossing the bridge, he saw the man flailing in the water. Bedford said the individual was paddling with a very weak side-to-side motion towards the shore when he sank under the surface for the first time. "He went down and came back up twice, but then he went down for good," Bedford said. "He looked like he was exhausted or dazed."
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