The 32-year-old woman was riding in a livery cab on the New Jersey-bound side of the bridge at about 2:30 p.m. when she shouted for the driver to stop and got out of the car into traffic, Fox 5 news reported.
She climbed over the railing and jumped 212 feet into the water.
The maintenance crew, which was painting the tower below the span, saw the woman fall, but none of the workers knew how to swim.
Fortunately, a nearby security guard Assad Halabi, 23, of Harrison, N.J., had been a member of the swim team at Harrison HS.
"Everyone was screaming, 'Can you swim?' " he told Channel 5.
"When I said I could, they said, 'Go get her.' "
The crew tied a rope around Halabi to protect him from being swept under by the Hudson River currents.
He was able to grab the woman just before she went under.
She was listed in good condition at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan.
