The G-Dub will make you Jump Jump
June 1st, 2007
So my boyfriend called me this morning on his way to work (in Massachusetts, mind you) to see if I’d heard about the guy freaking out on the GW bridge. I was thinking “How does he hear about something that’s happening in my backyard before I do? – and he’s in New England!” (Ok, probably because I watch Saved By the Bell in the mornings instead of the news while I get ready for work…but still.) Anyways, it turns out that the GW was shut down in both directions for about an hour and a half because some guy climbed the bridge and started slashing his wrists and arms with a box cutter.
“Basically we’re trying to find out why he’s up there. What’s his problem that would cause him to climb 500 feet in the air, that’s our goal, to find some kind of solution,” Det. Tom Driscoll from Emergency Services Unit Truck 2 said during a news conference afterward. “Once he dropped the box cutter we were able to approach him and secure him and put him in a harness and secure him to the bridge, and that’s basically how the job ended.” (Source)
Ok, seriously, couldn’t this guy pick one method? He climbs 500 feet up a bridge to slash his wrists? I’m thinking it would have taken a lot less energy and time if he stayed on the ground to slash his wrists. Or, if he really wanted the exercise, climb the bridge and jump!
The news station I was watching said, “We could zoom in and get closer shots of the scene and the man, but we’re not going to, we’re going to respect his privacy.” Yeah, cause the people at home are really tuning in to see clips of the miles of traffic on the bridge that you’re showing. Right. And I’m sorry, but if you choose to climb one of the busiest bridges in the country, then you’ve pretty much given up your right to privacy. I know I wasn’t the only one groaning, “Just show the guy!” He’s the whole reason it was even a newsworthy story!
“Let’s be honest, we all wanted him to jump or the channel 7 news chopper to get too close and blow him off.” Yeah, I know – twisted but true. That’s America for ya.
But on a serious note, kudos to the rescue team who climbed all the way up there and actually helped the guy. Never a dull moment in NYC.
