Man Survives Jump from Jamestown Bridge
A man in his late 20s was rescued by the Coast Guard after jumping from the Jamestown Bridge.
A man who jumped from the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge Saturday night got another chance at life after surviving the 135-foot fall.
According to the Providence Journal, Jamestown Harbormaster Sam Paterson received a call that a man had jumped from the bridge's center span and into Narragansett Bay around 8:30 p.m. Paterson took his boat to check the bridge's pillars, where the man would be if he was alive. According to the Journal, Paterson found the man clinging to a mass of mussels and calling "help me, help me."
Coast Guard crews assisted Paterson in transported the man (described as in his late 20s) to Plum Beach Club where North Kingstown Fire Rescue treated and brought him to Rhode Island Hospital. According to Fire Chief Fenwick Gardiner, the man did not break any limbs in the fall but most likely sustained internal injuries.
Though Gardiner estimates that his department responds to about four jumpers from the bridge, survivors are "not typical."
"It just wasn't his time to go, I guess," said Gardiner.
Lori Grayson
4:25 pm on Monday, August 27, 2012
I guess he wanted a second chance at life after he jumped. (Paterson found the man clinging to a mass of mussels and calling "help me, help me.") I hope he takes advantage of the fact that he beat death.
M. A. Waterbury
8:10 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The NYTimes Sunday Magazine did a great piece on jumpers a few years back: of the 12 people who survived, ALL of them reported being horrified at what they had done the moment they watched their hands release from the railings etc. I am pretty sure that many of us pass through periods of deep depression and WISH it was all over, but thank goodness, most of us don't act on it. My heart goes out to all concerned, for they must have been living in a hell that is beyond anything we could understand. My friend left three baffled young children-she loved those kids with everything in her, but that love was not able to trump the darkness that lay within her. So sad, for she took many other lives with her when she left-God Bless her and those left behind.
parent of an 8th grader
9:39 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
i wonder what he thought just before he hit the water and then right after when he realized he realized he was alive
Lori Grayson
10:00 am on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
@M.A Waterbury, That is remarkable (The NY Times article). I am so sorry about your friend. When I was younger, my cousin at 18 hung himself, luckily he had called his girlfriend at the time (she had just dumped him) and she called 911. They resuscitated him. He now, 20 years late, has a family and is very happy. If only it could be conveyed to someone in that desperate state, that it will get better. Eventually, life will turn around.
Vanessa Dunlop
11:28 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012
I went for a walk to my neighborhood Plum Point Beach at around the time of the jump.. I saw the lights from the rescues on the bridge, and the boats at the base of the bridge.. My heart sank, because I immediately hoped it wasn't a "jumper." I sat on the beach and said a prayer that if someone did jump that God watches over the that person, and brings comfort to the family... To my surprise, I find that this person has survived!! I pray that he is filled with love and healing in the days to come.. My thoughts and prayers are with him...
Brian W Trapp
9:40 am on Sunday, September 2, 2012
It is so sad when someone commits this final act in despiration..if they could realize, as I did in my early years, is that life is all about choices.
The real Beauty in life is that there is no limit to how many times you can "restart" and follow a path to personal happiness.
There are many rules in life but the one to be broken is the one that says you can't do over... Better to take as many times as you want to get things right.!! This is real living..