Man Survives Leap From Verrazano Bridge

By on October 16, 2012  News
Oct 162012
 

Image source: shinya via Flickr.

A man survived an attempted suicide jump off the Verrazano Bridge late Sunday afternoon, according to a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson.

“He was in critical condition but alive,” Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe told reporter Jillian Jorgensen from Staten Island Advance.

NYPD Harbor Unit officers pulled the man from the 62 degree water between Staten Island and Brooklyn.

An MTA spokesperson also confirmed with reporters that the jumper had been fished out of the Narrows alive. From the Coast Guard station, the man was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

The man had first been spotted at 5:26 p.m., an NYPD spokesman told the Advance, when he was seen getting out of a parked vehicle on the span’s Upper Level before jumping. NYPD Harbor and Aviation units then began to search the water to find him, the spokesman said.

As part of what has been described since earlier this year as an alarming trend, the Advance writes that there has been five suicides, including at least three thwarted attempts, since December 2011.

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 »

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 »

HOV Lane, New Upper Deck Coming To Verrazano Bridge

By on June 28, 2012  Traffic & Transit
Jun 282012
 

Image source: MTAPhotos via Flickr

Soon you’ll be able to count seven lanes on the upper deck of the Verrazano.

As the MTA plans to install a new upper deck on the nearly 50-year-old Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, a new HOV lane is slated to premiere as part of the improvements, writes Denise Romano in a very informative piece for the Home Reporter.

Word of the new traffic artery came to light during an MTA Capital Construction Committee hearing on June 25. 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 »

Kick Off Fleet Week, Bay Ridge Style!

By on May 8, 2012  Events, Featured story
May 082012
 
Cannons salute as the USS Iwo Jima passes the Narrows during the Parade of Ships at the start of Fleet Week 2011. (Courtesy of David Tan)

 

On Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at around 8:30 a.m., the Parade of Ships will enter New York Harbor and proceed to the piers on the West Side of Manhattan, heralding the start of New York’s Fleet Week – as it has since 1984.

If you didn’t already know, the famous flotilla passes right under the Verrazano. Which means you won’t have to schlep all the way to Manhattan to get your fill of the tall sailing vessels of old, as well as WWII-era destroyers. Click Here To Find Out Where To View The Ships, As well As Why This Year Is So Special