Negotiator trying to talk man down from Bay Bridge

SF Gate ^ | 04/02/2004 | Bay City News

[rivercat]

The San Francisco Police Department has sent a negotiator to talk down a man who is standing on a railing on the westbound side of the Bay Bridge near Treasure Island, according to California Highway Patrol Officer Virgil Aquilar.

Also assisting in the situation is the U.S. Coast Guard, which has sent two boats to the Bay Bridge "for any type of rescue and assistance should the man decide not to go back over the rail onto the auto deck,'' Coast Guard Petty Officer Gabriel Flesher said.

[Centurion2000]

Negotiator trying to talk man down from Bay Bridge

Why ? Just them die with dignity.

[johnfrink]

From the article in the New Yorker: "Dr. Richard Seiden, a professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Public Health and the leading researcher on suicide at the bridge, has written that studies reveal “a commonly held attitude that romanticizes suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge in such terms as aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, while regarding a Bay Bridge suicide as tacky.”

[Not A Snowbird]

LOl! Nice pic. Nice shark... Pretty shark!

[Not A Snowbird]

One person who jumped left a note behind and said that if one person smiled at them walking the whole way out there he/she wouldn't jump.

That is sad.

[threat matrix]

Is the Bay Area Bridge that much taller than the Golden Gate?

[johnfrink]

I don't know about taller, but it's undeniably more elegant and graceful. When was the last time you saw a postcard with the Bay Bridge on it?

[Bobibutu]

"Is the Bay Area Bridge that much taller than the Golden Gate?"

Measured from where? The GG starts out on top of a cliff and ends on an opposite cliff. Water depth is approx 380 feet deep under the GG.

The Bay Bridge starts out near sea level on the Oakland side - ramps up to Yerba Buena Island and then spans across to an elevated system of roads on the SF side. Water depth under the BB is approx 60 ft at the deepest.

Then there are the span towers.

The potential jumper is on the inside (south) of the bridge. Facing Oakland - away from SF - very unusual for a jumper here.

[skeeter]

Is the Bay Area Bridge that much taller than the Golden Gate?

GG's towers are a bit higher than the BB, likewise the roadways distance from the water. THe only difference is its probably easier to recover the body of a BB jumper - the tides in the GG narrows are pretty treacherous.

[Bobibutu]

"undeniably more elegant and graceful"

I'm from Oakland - I always felt we got shortchanged on the design end of the bridge (just an ugly ramp on our side)

Look closely to the right of the bridge in the traffic photo in post 20 and you will see construction and cranes - we are getting a new bridge on this side (old ramp cannot be retrofitted to earthquake criteria) - and the design is awesome - http://www.mtc.ca.gov/projects/bay_bridge/bbmain.htm

and http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/eastspans/index.html

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

The guy last night from the Apprentice was Troy. Troy would never jump. He took it like a real man and was thankful for the opportunity he had. He is a good guy.

[Simmy2.5]

The replacement bridge looks okay. Problem is, it still looks like a long ramp up to the new 'single' tower of the new bridge. In other words, still ugly.

Still, a bridge is a bridge. Can't wait for it to finish.

As for suicides, its sad, but it happens. I remember the Golden Gate Bridge having tons of problems with this. They even proposed having huge suicide barriers to prevent said suicides. Wonder if they ever got around to doing this?

Of course, the Golden Gate Bridge IS one of the most recognized landmark worldwide. Especially compared to the Bay Bridge which, great on its own right, is no Golden Gate Bridge. The GG would have a more 'grand' place to jump off so to speak.

[pbear8]

OK so it's Omarosa on the Bridge.

[Bobibutu]

"They even proposed having huge suicide barriers to prevent said suicides. Wonder if they ever got around to doing this? "

Nope ... You may jump to your hearts content - either side. It seems most go off the City View bay side than the lonely west ocean side.

[BurbankKarl]

I heard they were going to start charing PEDESTRIANS to walk on the bridges in the Bay Area soon....Perhaps a suicide permit or fee would work out then

[Bobibutu]

"start charing PEDESTRIANS to walk on the bridges in the Bay Area"

GG is the only one of the 9 Bay Area bridges that will accomodate pedestrians.

[Alia]

Selfish twit did this; utterly careless about anyone else's concerns. I heard the guy was demanding someone give him a job at $50K a year or he'd jump. Obviously a Kerry voter, doing an emotive plea in the campaign against "outsourcing". If this is indeed true -- what I've heard given as this man's reason for messing up thousands of people's life? I think Kerry campaign should hire him; certainly Dean could use him in his own personal campaign.

Of course, it is sad the man would even contemplate such selfishness -- the taking of his own life. Is he aware of how many people's lives he may have nearly taken in his selfish act? non.

Your photo reminds me of other times I've been trapped in such traffic -- and almost always due to some liberal nonsense, on the SF Bridge. Like "bicyclist" protests. blech.

[bootless]

Well, as of five minutes ago - after 12½ hours - the police negotiators talked the guy back onto the deck of the bridge, and he's on his way to the hospital for evaluation.

I'm glad they succeeded in that ... I can't imagine the effort and sweat these officers put into these very long negotiations. Is this story about him wanting a job the real reason why he did this?

BTW, some leftist was on Bernie the Hutt Ward's show tonight, lambasting the selfish drivers who HAD to guzzle gas in their cars, and if they had taken mass transit, they wouldn't have been inconvenienced by this suicide standoff. What self-superior, arrogant, soulless ideologues.

And yes, I took BART to the Giants game. I would have preferred to drive, but not tonight.

[Alia]

God Bless these police negotiators. I guess this is just another example in the lefty handbook of "police brutality", eh?

I haven't heard anything else on what the "jumper" wanted; only that one inside news blurb and from a lefty rock music station.

lol. Bernie Ward. I gather it was his "guest/callers" lambasting the drivers?

Many years ago, soon after its publication, I read a book called "Ecotopia". And years later, learned quite solidly that the book was being used as a quasi-blue-print for San Francisco. I used to love SF. And I was there, to witness its decline. It became "surreal". Like, Ecotopia. What's the book push? Bicyclists and mass transit. And what do I hear? "Unions".

Yes, these callers are arrogant, superior, "mommy-dearest" types brandishing coat-hangers at will. For a Pro-Choice gang, they sure are totally anti-choice. I like BART -- I use it too. But given how many nutcases live in the Bay Area -- carpooling is often far too risky. (And how often these nutcases are given "judicial excuses" for their ill and anti-social behaviors.

Lastly -- mass transit. I used to use mass transit to/from, and within SF. It became a hazard to one's safety to simply ride on one. Some very nasty characters, the Bus Drivers were prevented by City Hall from protecting its passengers (and themselves), and so the left shoots itself in the foot again. No wonder so many people drive their own cars into SF -- their personal car serves as a "condom" against the deviants permitted to run amok in SF and Bay Area.

[Alia]

The Golden Gate Bridge is far more windy than the SF Bridge. Chances are for jumpers, the serious one's use GGate Bridge - More chance for "natural" influences to assist in the jump. And the currents are stronger.