The Ithaca Journal is reporting that emergency responders were able to stop a man from jumping from the Stewart Avenue Bridge on Monday afternoon:
Ithaca and Cornell University police officers, Ithaca firefighters, Bangs Ambulance personnel, Tompkins County Mental Health Department workers and the Critical Incident Negotiating Team (CINT) responded to the report of a suicidal man on the Stewart Avenue bridge over Cascadilla Creek around 15:37 p.m. Monday, Ithaca Police officials said. They found the 31-year old man on sitting on the bridge railing, threatening suicide, they added.
Tall fences were installed on bridges over gorges on the Cornell campus and elsewhere in the city of Ithaca this winter after a series of suicides from bridges by students. According to fire department officials, the man had apparently gotten around the fence at one end or the other then shimmied along to a spot over the gorge. University and city officials have acknowledged the fences are unlikely to stop someone determined to jump but said they may prevent impulsive suicides.
After negotiations by CINT members, firefighters used bolt cutters to cut through the fence and put a rope around the man, and he was pulled to safety. He was transported to Cayuga Medical Center for treatment. The man’s name is being withheld.
While we obviously don’t have all the information about the circumstances of the incident- what drove the man to attempt suicide, the extent to which his action was premeditated, exactly how he negotiated the fences, how they convinced him not to jump, etc.- here are some preliminary thoughts:
– Rescuers were extremely lucky to have dissuaded the man from jumping. While he was not a Cornell student, another gorge suicide would have brought significant damage to a university community that is still recovering from the rash of spring suicides.
– The fences are now confirmed to be certifiably negotiable. I’m not sure that anyone doubted this in the first place (including university officials), but the fact that someone has actually climbed around the fences and attempted suicide will play a major factor in the ongoing debate about what to do with the fences. Yes, it’s still true that the fences probably do provide another obstacle to prevent people from making rash, impulsive decisions in the spur of the moment, but they clearly didn’t stop this guy.
– It will be interesting to see how this incident is interpreted in the news. Will it be portrayed as a successful rescue operation, an example of unsuccessful university policy, or yet another sign that the problem of gorge suicides in Ithaca just refuses to go away. I’m not even sure where I stand on this yet, but again, we’d have an entirely different story on our hands if the rescuers were unsuccessful in convincing the man not to jump.
Heh I’m honestly the only reply to this great writing.