[UPDATED] Man Jumps Off Verrazano Bridge, Condition Unknown

By on January 7, 2013  News
Jan 072013
 
Subway fares and bridge tolls are going up in March 2013. (Photo credit: Brian Hedden)

Photo credit: Brian Hedden/Bay Ridge Odyssey

[UPDATE] 1/8/13 A Canarsie woman who wishes to remain anonymous reportedly came forward yesterday to Denise Romano at Home Reporter. The source allegedly identified the missing man as her daughter’s boyfriend.

Less than two days into the new year, a man was seen jumping from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The incident occurred at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, January 2, when witnesses spotted a man stop his car in the right lane of the Staten Island-bound upper level at around the center of the span before leaping off, as reported by Denise Romano for Home Reporter.

The right lane of the upper level was closed for approximately one hour while NYPD Harbor Units and Emergency Services Units searched for the jumper. The man’s identity was not reported by media as it was not known at press time and his condition is likewise a mystery, as police have yet to recover a body.

According to Staten Island Advance, excluding Wednesday’s occurrence, “there have been five suicides on the bridge since December 2011, three thwarted attempts and one person who survived the jump.”

What About Officer Fung? MTA Police Officer’s heroic role in Verrazano suicide save downplayed at ceremony honoring NYPD colleague

By on September 20, 2012  News
Sep 202012
 

Last Wednesday at City Hall, New York City Police Officer Yi Huang received a special proclamation from City Councilman Vincent Gentile for his role in helping to save the life of a despondent man named Lin Huan Quiang, as reported by Denise Romano for the Home Reporter. Lin, an immigrant from China, had attempted to jump off the Verrazano Bridge.

The humble and undoubtedly heroic Officer Huang had responded to a call put out for speakers of Cantonese, the only language Lin is fluent in. He rushed to the scene from the NYPD’s Fifth Precinct in Chinatown, going “above and beyond the call of duty,” as Gentile proclaimed to members of the press. As wind and loud thunderstorms made the task more difficult, Huang and the other first responders were able to save Lin from a premature and needless death.

However, according to at least one account, there is another police officer who also deserves credit. Continue reading »

Short Walk On A Long Pier: Another jumper stopped on Verrazano

By on August 13, 2012  News
Aug 132012
 

Image source: Wikipedia Commons.

Last week, yet another emotionally distraught man attempted to leap off the Verrazano. The incident occurred after the man’s girlfriend reportedly told him to “go jump off a bridge,” according to the Daily News‘ Sarah Armaghan.

Musician James Taylor [no, not that James Taylor], a 24-year old from Philadelphia, was arguing with his girlfriend on Thursday when she apparently uttered the normally sarcastic expression.

Luckily, Taylor had decided to take his treasured saxophone along with him. Continue reading »

Reporter: “Unsung” Officer Fung Not Properly Credited With Talking Down Verrazano Jumper

By on July 31, 2012  News
Jul 312012
 

Image source: jesus-leon via Flickr.

According to one veteran police reporter and author, the NYPD’s Public Information Office likes to credit its own officers for their good deeds over members of other law enforcement agencies, even if that means stretching the truth. A lot.

In his weekly online column NYPD Confidential, Leonard Levitt details a purported insiders account of last week’s heroic talk down of a suicidal man from the edge of the Verrazano Bridge.

The difference between the official story put out by the press and what Levitt says really happened?

Levitt writes that it was in fact MTA Bridge and Tunnel officer Eddie Fung who spent four hours talking down despondent civilian Lin Huan Quiang, not Officer Yi Huang of the NYPD’s 5th Precinct in Chinatown – as had previously been reported by multiple news organizations. Continue reading »

Sheepshead Bay Man’s Attempted Suicide Leap From Verrazano Thwarted By Police

By on July 24, 2012  Featured story, News
Jul 242012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Officers from the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit prevented a “despondent” Brooklyn man from taking his own life by jumping off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on Monday.

A “marathon negotiation session” began at around 12 when Lin Huan Qiong, 46, from Sheepshead Bay was seen climbing one of the bridge’s metal “fingers,” writes John M. Annese as part of a thrilling rescue story for the Staten Island Advance. Continue reading »

Another Man Jumped Off The Verrazano

By on June 29, 2012  Featured story, News
Jun 292012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr.

The Staten Island Advance is reporting that a disturbing string of suicides on the Verrazano Bridge which began in April continued yesterday, when a man in his 30s jumped from near the middle of the almost mile-long span at around 2:30 p.m. Continue reading »

Police Identify Friday’s Verrazano Bridge Jumper – Incident latest in series of suicide attempts on or near span

By on June 11, 2012  News
Jun 112012
 

Image source: joo0ey via Flickr

Police have classified last Friday’s suicide leap from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge as a missing persons case. NYPD officials made the determination after search and rescue teams came up empty in the search for a body, writes Staten Island Advance.

Friday’s incident marks the fourth in a series of both successful and attempted suicides to take place on or near the bridge by different men since April. Continue reading »

Police, Bridge Worker Stop Man From Suicide Leap Off Verrazano

By on May 2, 2012  Featured story, News
May 022012
 

Source: joo0ey via Flickr

A Staten Island man who tried to jump to his death yesterday was saved after being pulled from the side of the Verrazano Bridge – where he was hanging by just one arm Continue reading »