Photo: Humanity

    Posted on Feb 7, 2012 | 4 comments

    Aurora Bridge - Suicide Jump Prevented

    February 7th, 2012, 3:30pm, jumper on the Aurora Bridge, suicide fence be damned.

    SPD rolls response, no guns drawn, no tasers, no batons, no beatings … just a friendly hand, some encouraging words, and an ambulance ride to Harborview. Crisis averted. For now.

    I’ve been hard on the SPD lately. We all have.

    Today, however, I was reminded that boys in blue aren’t all bad. We still have human beings on the force. Human beings with real compassion, real empathy, and real humanity.

    I hesitated to post this photograph. After all, what if I was photographed in my most vulnerable moment, and the photo was put on the Internet for all to see?

    After thinking it over for a couple of hours, however, I decided to go ahead and put it up. I don’t think this one is gratuitous. I don’t think it makes anyone look bad. I don’t think it’s embarrassing. To the contrary, I think it gives some of us hope. Especially the more cynical among us.

    Thanks, my brother. I needed to see what I saw today on the Aurora Bridge. I’m just sorry it took your unbearable pain to make it happen.

    Get well.

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    4 comments

    1. coolpacific / February 9, 2012

      Good for the cops. Suicide is an emotional issue for me because I witnessed one 16 years ago.

      I was in a multi-level 4 story atrium style shopping mall when a young man decided to jump from the top, four stories down to the marble floor below. I don’t think much about the aftermath, but what haunts me is his cry, almost a wail, for the few seconds he fell. Was it fear? Regret? Relief? No one can know for sure, but I am convinced a kind voice of hope could have talked him out of it. I suspect he would be around my age now, maybe a few years younger, and, most likely, finding at least a few fleeting moments of joy in his life.

    2. Kendra / February 25, 2012

      Take his picture down of edit his face out. My cousin jumped last month and my family would not want his face all over the internet. have some respect

      • Seattle Rex / February 25, 2012

        #1 That’s not the way you ask for something.

        #2 The picture was taken this month, so I think you have the wrong guy.

        • Derek / June 4, 2012

          Seattle Rex: Regarding #2, Kendra isn’t identifying the man in this photo as her cousin. She’s saying that her family wouldn’t have wanted to see his last moments posted on the Internet. On that basis, she feels that this photo should be edited or taken down out of sensitivity for this man and his family.