A man threatening to jump off the I-95 bridge over State Road 100 was rescued after snarling traffic for nearly an hour. The same man had attempted to jump off the Palm Coast Parkway bridge over I-95 last August. He was Baker Acted then, as he was today.
The man straddled the South I-95 highway sign attached to the concrete barrier at the edge of the northbound lanes of 95. He was facing east. Traffic in both directions on State Road 100 and on I-95 was halted away from the scene, causing drivers to navigate through city streets such as Old Kings Road and Town Center to get around the incident scene. The incident was over by 3:30 p.m.
“He was drinking a beer and threatening suicide,” Sheriff Rick Staly, who was at the scene as the incident approached resolution, said. “Our negotiating team along with a lot of deputies and the fire department responded. In about an hour we were able to bring him down from the sign with the assistance of the fire department bucket truck. But this inconvenienced a lot of drivers on State Road 100 and on 95 that had to be diverted.”
The Palm Coast Fire Department’s Tower 24 engine brought the man down. The Flagler Beach Fire Department’s Tower 11 was also at the scene, as were other fire department personnel.
“He will be baker acted,” the sheriff said. “Hopefully he’ll receive more intensive care for whatever is going on un his life.” Theoretically the man could be charged with a crime, but prosecution would be unlikely, the sheriff said, because of his mental health issues. “Having a beer doesn’t help the matter, many times it gives the suicidal person the liquid courage to actually do it. Fortunately that was not the case in this case,” he said.
A few years ago the state Department of Transportation installed metal-mesh barriers on Palm Coast Parkway after a teenage girl twice attempted to jump from there, twice getting rescued by sheriff’s deputies and firefighters, and both times halting traffic on the roadways above and below. There are no similar barriers on the 100 bridge.
“It’s a tragic incident, it’s what we train for,” Staly said. “We hope we never have to use it but our deputies did a phenomenal job, saved a life today, so did the fire department, although it inconvenienced a lot of people.”
JimboXYZ says
““Having a beer doesn’t help the matter, many times it gives the suicidal person the liquid courage to actually do it.”
Not enough alcohol in a 6 pack for that “liquid courage” Would it take a heroin/opioid OD, to unconsciously fall from the bridge ? I think Flagler County is at least 5 for 5 for failed suicides. There was the girl that threatened to be a jumper on I-95 overpass twice. The woman that was the jumper from the causeway bridge, she actually got wet/dipped her toes into the Matanzas River. And this dude is 2X failure. There’s something to be said for the Japanese Aokigahara forest, where folks wander into the woods & succeed in their suicides ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2yGJuOIdl0&rco=1
Don Wallace says
Why is he not committed permanently? Or let the guy jump. Save us all the headache.
YankeeExPat says
Don,……you are truly a stupid ass !
Land of no turn signals says says
AS much empathy I have for this guy, being stuck in traffic as I was yesterday in which it took me 90 minutes to go 8 miles to my house makes it much less.
Donald says
Just tell me why there where 60 first responders involved, do you need me to send Elon?
Joe D says
Reply to Don Wallace:
“Permanent Commitment” has been illegal for 50+years. Re-evaluation has to be done every 60 days in most jurisdictions, and requires 2 MD’s or an MD and a PHD Psychologist to “certify” that you are a danger to yourself or others.
Depression is a terrible thing…it can destroy your life and those around you.
BELIEVE ME, you would not like what happened 2 generations ago. Husbands could pay a family doctor to say their wife was insane , so they could either take over their wife’s money, or
live with/marry their mistress. They could be kept “locked up” permanently …no further hearings.
As a Master’s prepared Clinical Nurse Specialist, Certified Nurse Case Manager, and child and family therapist, I have had multiple suicidal patients of ALL ages. Hopefully with medication, therapy and community support, people CAN stabilize and recover from severe depression.
If this was your brother, wife or child, I hope you would have more compassion than your callus comment.
It does seem like FDOT needs to add that safety fencing along all the reachable overpasses
John Mascee says
These people are nuts. Lets call it what it is with the real terms & not these made up feel good phrases like mental illness. Crazy people have been around since the dawn of man. These people are not fit to walk around & need to be segregated from the rest of us. Let them work out their problems in places designed for that & then join society if they can.
This guy caused all this not once but twice. Just like that teen girl that did it 3 times on the Palm Coast bridge.
There is a difference between someone that is depressed & real crazy. IMHO, if you threaten to jump off a bridge 2 times, your no longer afforded that difference. Your crazy & need to be segregated to deal with it.
Just think how many lives would have been saved, & yeah how many “children” in schools shootings if those crazy kids were locked away. Your a parent, you know darn well if you kids have real problems, & not just a case of depression.
Michelle says
I work with the mentally ill for about ten years in state hospital and now in the community. Currently, I am a Guardian Advocate, that man who tried to jump needed help, yes alcohol is not what he should have drank. He/she is a person and should be respected. Yes in May have been an inconvenience for many., but just think if that was you love one would you want them to just jump so you can get to you destination. I am glad he is receiving the help he needs now. He/she may not meet the Baker Act criteria currently to go to the state hospital, although he/she is at the CSU.
"Banana Nut" ice cream says
Yup… the town without pity, now a city.