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Suicidal Woman Blocks Traffic, Angry Drivers Tell Her to Jump. She does.

By rebelcool in Culture
Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 06:04:08 AM EST
Tags: Culture (all tags) 		Culture

A Fredericksburg, Virginia woman suicidal over a split with her husband sat on the edge of an interstate bridge contemplating suicide. A lone officer tried to persuade her away from the edge. However, drivers angry that they had been slowed by the events called on her to jump.

With an apology, she does.

Pictures, details and more

She sat on the barrier at the edge of the bridge positioned 80 feet above the Rappahannock River. She stared down at it, in her mind her life and future seemed as empty as the 80-foot drop.

A lone state policeman stood 15 feet away, coaxing her away from the edge, asking her to come off and talk to him about her life.

She cried as she recounted her story to him about her separation from her husband a month earlier. All was without purpose, it seemed.

The policeman listened, coming a little closer, assuring her that life was not empty. She had a future. There was more to it. He genuinely cared and sought to save her life.

Perhaps, she thought as she leaned back from the edge some, perhaps there is more.

80 feet became 82.

The policeman came closer still, as he held his hand out to her a driver on the southbound lanes called out for her to jump, angry at being slowed from 60 mph to 30.

She looked around at the traffic behind the roadblock. It stretched for miles. It would be hours before it would begin moving steadily again. Every one of them hates me for this.

82 feet became 80.

Another driver on the southbound lanes angrily yelled for her to jump.

As the policeman's hand reached to hers, she shied away and whispered, "I'm sorry" to the kind man who cared, stepped off the barrier, and completed the last 80 feet of her life.

I have taken an artistic license with this story. We cannot know for sure what went through her mind, or if no one had called for her to jump would change anything, though certainly that could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

One must wonder, what if this had been a footbridge instead of an interstate? Would the pedestrian's have been so callous? What would lead someone who had been merely slowed in their travel to encourage the death of another human? Is this a form of road rage? What does this really mean, if anything?

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Suicidal Woman Blocks Traffic, Angry Drivers Tell Her to Jump. She does. | 227 comments (207 topical, 20 editorial, 1 hidden)
Something similar... (4.08 / 12) (#7)
by binarygod on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 04:24:54 PM EST

If memory serves something similar happened last year in Seattle. A woman (I think) was on a bridge ready to jump. The traffic was being held up and similarly, the angry crowd shouted for her to jump. She of course did. This might be a good story, as it might provoke debate into why our 9-5 rush hour culture is making people so cruel. Well it might!

She didn't come there to sight-see (2.62 / 27) (#8)
by gibichung on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 04:24:55 PM EST

She came there to jump off the bridge.

You can't blame the motorists; what they did was irresponsible, but even if it did effect her, it was probably only the straw that broke the camel's back - she did come to the bridge for her own reasons, afterall.

-----
"No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it." -- Theodore Roosevelt

Out of curiosity (2.58 / 24) (#11)
by spacejack on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 04:38:16 PM EST

Anyone hear from Signal 11 lately?

You know... (2.87 / 8) (#15)
by Icehouseman on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 05:28:38 PM EST

I'd hate to be her Ex-Husband, because it would probably be on his head for the rest of his life, especially if he left her for another woman or something.
----------------
Bush's $3 trillion state is allegedly a mark of "anti-government bias" on the right. -- Anthony Gregory
I can't believe people (3.72 / 11) (#19)
by xrayspx on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 05:54:50 PM EST

People hate being inconvenienced so much that they yell at a woman to commit suicide? She easily might have been doing this for the attention, or trying to get help. People yell at her to jump and she understands that there may easily be no one willing to help her, so she jumps.

Those people yelling for her to jump should feel like they've done a service, they got traffic moving again, great.


"I see one maggot, it all gets thrown away" -- My Wife
People are amazingly desensitized (4.60 / 20) (#20)
by fluffy grue on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 05:55:53 PM EST

A couple years ago, here in Las Cruces, there was a man who was contemplating suicide and was hanging off the edge of an I-25 overpass near the university. Several police were involved in trying to calm him down and stop him from jumping, and several fratboys were repeatedly chanting, "Jump! Jump! Jump!"

Fortunately, the police won out. I think they also cited the fratboys for obstructing the police. Shortly after, the NMSU student paper had an editorial which started saying how disgusting the fratboys were, but then started to rail against the guy for considering hurling himself onto the freeway and possibly damaging someone else's car in the meantime.

The fact that anyone could be so cruel as to joke about someone else's life when they're at such a critical moment depresses me.
--
"#kuro5hin [is like] a daycare center [where] the babysitter had been viciously murdered." -- CaptainObvious (we

Not too suprising (4.34 / 23) (#23)
by xriso on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 06:31:21 PM EST

In a society where convenience takes precedence over human life.
--
*** Quits: xriso:#kuro5hin (Forever)
Our only hope (4.27 / 22) (#24)
by rodoke3 on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 06:32:20 PM EST

is that they caught some of those drivers on tape. The news link showed plenty of pictures of the policeman and the woman, but it didn't identify any of the drivers. I believe the best punishment anyone could give them for such immaturity is for them to walk into work the next morning and be known as the one who helped encourage a suicide.

I take umbrage with such statments and am induced to pull out archaic and over pompous words to refute such insipid vitriol. -- kerinsky
Yoda Says... (2.75 / 20) (#25)
by Bad Harmony on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 07:17:40 PM EST

Jump or jump not. There is no try.

54º40' or Fight!

Sigh. (3.70 / 10) (#26)
by valeko on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 07:21:56 PM EST

Well, what can I say ... a sickening example of the state of affairs in the decadent American consumer society. Now contemporary nonthought has "evolved" enough that no obstructions to people's precious little traffic can be permitted -- not even people on the brink of self-annihilation. Under no circumstances must they be late for their shopping (not much else to do in Fredericksburg).


"Hey, what's sanity got going for it anyways?" -- infinitera, on matters of the heart

Hardly surprising (4.25 / 16) (#29)
by ucblockhead on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 07:57:56 PM EST

Hell, you don't have to look far to find people that uncaring here on k5, and they don't even have inconvenience to blame it on.

Unfortunately, there is a significant percentage of the human race that are just plain shits.
-----------------------
This is k5. We're all tools - duxup

Musings (read: rant) (4.56 / 16) (#31)
by whatwasthatagain on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 08:34:17 PM EST

I am no psychologist, but doesn't the fact that the woman was prepared to talk to the police officer mean that she hadn't entirely made up her mind?

This definitely isn't the first case where somebody has been witness to a suicide attempt. In almost all these cases (ok, ok, no hard evidence. This might just be the result of a my-idle-mind-turned-into-a-devil's-workshop thingy), the person is unsure of himself (or herself, of course), and doesn't want anyone coming near. The first reaction of such a person is usually to threaten to kill himself if the other person came any nearer.

Not so in this case, though. The woman seemed quite willing to talk. She did ask the officer to contact her pastor (in preference to her husband, whom the officer offered to contact). This leads me to believe that she would have gotten out had it not been for a few desensitized jerks egging her on.

It's all mere hypothesis, of course. I might be wrong (so what's new?). Maybe I've just been watching too many movies.


--

With profound apologies to whomsoever this sig originally belonged.

People + Cars + Traffic = Uber-assholes (4.25 / 12) (#33)
by quasipalm on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 08:37:28 PM EST

I think the most interesting part of this article is the author's question, "what if this had been a footbridge instead of an interstate?" I think we've all seen this: People that are nice, normal people get behind a wheel and turn into ûber-assholes. I suppose people feel removed from their environment when driving... It seems they respond to things happening around them like they would a movie.

Also, here in Seattle the same thing happened. Here the police stopped traffic because divers-by were yelling "jump." She did jump, but survived. Read about it here.
(hi)
anti-depressants (4.10 / 10) (#36)
by three-pipe on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 09:24:48 PM EST

Authorities said she may have taken an overdose of prescription of anti-depressants before venturing out on the interstate.

we just got hooked up with cable tv. i live in canada, where drug adverts are illegal, and seeing the rash of ADS for drugs and then hearing about the effects of chemical solutions to societal/interpersonal problems really gets me scared.

of course, the jeering onlookers are a whole other story


-chad \\ warfordium.org \\
We all have problems... (3.26 / 26) (#37)
by blankmind on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 10:10:08 PM EST

Disclaimer: I am actually a very caring person.

Quite frankly, I would have been pissed too. We _all_ have problems. Guess what? My car is a piece of shit, my job sucks, school is very stressful, I don't get any sleep, gas prices are too fucking high, and my girlfriend and I just had a fight. These are problems that I'm sure we can all relate with. Problems that a certain lady who decided to jump off a bridge had. Your husband left you? Ha! My mother was left twice! Did she decide to throw a pity party? No.

I have always looked at suicide in two different ways. One, you have the person who blows his brains out in his living room. Two, you have the person who sits on a bridge, waiting for someone to intervene. In the first example, you have someone who is really sick of life. They are really bent on killing themselves. In the second example, you have the person who feels sorry for themselves. They want somebody to tell them that they are special. Throwing a pity party--that's what this whole fiasco really was. This lady didn't have intentions of committing suicide. She wanted just attention.

So why the hell should I care?
--------
I have been trolled.
I hope you're never in the same boat . . . (3.25 / 8) (#47)
by acceleriter on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 11:18:28 PM EST

. . . or at least that someone shows you more mercy than you would have shown this woman. And I hope your compatriots that yelled "jump" feel really good about themselves.

Your thesis that she wasn't serious about committing suicide seems to have been disproven by her actually having done so.

Darwin always wins (1.68 / 32) (#48)
by bojo on Sat Apr 27, 2002 at 11:19:18 PM EST

Yes, that sounds cruel and callous. I have no pity for people that consider ending their lives, and the pity is wasted on people that did.

Sure, the drivers may have been out of hand for calling her out, and maybe the officer did have a chance at saving her life.

In the end, Darwin won. Not much of a story, regardless of the outcome.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah. (1.95 / 21) (#69)
by gnovos on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 04:43:21 AM EST

Yeah, I am callous and cruel, but I can't see how anyone can be upset over this stupid woman. She was SELFISH. She couldn't deal with a few problems in her life so she decides the best thing to do is to cause even MORE problems in everyone elses lives.

A Haiku: "fuck you fuck you fuck/you fuck you fuck you fuck you/fuck you fuck you snow" - JChen
fuckers (2.05 / 20) (#83)
by crazycanuck on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 08:53:36 AM EST

those people who yelled at her to jump should be shot.

more fuckers (2.82 / 17) (#84)
by crazycanuck on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 08:56:35 AM EST

it's not just those people in the cars.

it seems there are quite a few people here on K5 that would have done the same. I'm totally disgusted with you.

Why can't people like this be sprayed with ... (4.00 / 8) (#87)
by pyramid termite on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 09:55:16 AM EST

... some kind of instant sticking glue that would stop them from being able to jump? They've been working on things like this for riots and crowd control, why not suicides?
On the Internet, anyone can accuse you of being a dog.
If you go to Z'ha'dum, you will die (2.71 / 7) (#103)
by Kosh on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 03:52:48 PM EST

Jump. Jump NOW!

--

I have always been here.

"Inconvenience" (3.64 / 14) (#111)
by DarkZero on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 06:12:59 PM EST

A lot of people, the above article included, have assumed that these people were screaming for this woman to jump because they were inconvenienced by the traffic slowdown that she caused. But as some others have already noted, similar events have occurred with people threatening to jump off of balconies, buildings, and apartment windows, which would be cases where no one was being inconvenienced (at least not in this way). Yet people scream for the person that is threatening to commit suicide to jump anyway. Why is this? Maybe because they just hate the person and want to see them jump.

I don't know if I'd take the same actions that the passing motorists in this story did, but I think I'd have the same feelings that they had. These people that walk out onto a bridge to "commit suicide" (many do not go through with it) do so to toy with the emotions of whoever is unfortunate enough to lay eyes on their little spectacle. They do it to incite pity, care, and horror on the part of the innocent people that they're manipulating. They aren't "poor souls" or "the innocent victims of desensitized American culture". They're assholes. They're malicious people that are trying to mess with the heads of everyone around them. Worse yet, the ones that actually do jump are getting a rise out of the fact that everyone that sees it firsthand will carry the horrible memory of someone dying with them for the rest of their lives and that everyone reading it in the paper the next day will feel sad. It's no different than the feeling that mass murderers and school shooters feel. They're going to be FAMOUS... and everyone that doesn't feel like having to look at it and deal with it can go fuck themselves, I guess.

These people do not deserve your pity, your melodramatic dramatizations of her death, or your emotionally charged defenses of what they did. This is exactly what they want. The people that choose to walk into a public place and sit around making dramatic speeches about why they're going to commit suicide before they actually go through with it are not the same as the pathetic, pitiable people that are so depressed that they are driven to commit suicide quickly and in private. These people don't simply want to kill themselves, but want to dramatize it in order to fuck with your head. They're driven more by malice and cruelty than by genuine depression. Don't give them or anyone else that follows their lead the satisfaction, even post mortem, of feeling sorry for them and screaming down anyone that doesn't feel the same way. When you do so, you are being manipulated by a malicious person that doesn't care how their actions affect you beyond their personal satisfaction in your pity. Please do not fall for their bullshit.


And because I know someone will ask: No, I would not have told them to jump. Why? Because every once and awhile, one of those people that tries to jump off a bridge is really just a depressed person that happened to be on a bridge when they lost control of their emotions and decided to kill themselves. At least one in a million has to be a nice person. However, I don't fault the people in their cars that took the safe bet that the woman that was stalling on the bridge while supposedly trying to kill herself was actually just an asshole that decided to walk across town and soak up the melodrama for a few hours on a railing before they killed themselves.

Why isn't this a crime? (3.40 / 10) (#114)
by gauntlet on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 06:44:59 PM EST

If it is a crime to assist a suicide, why is it not a crime to encourage one? You can't yell fire in a crowded theatre. Why can you yell "jump" at someone in an obviously altered state on a bridge, or a ledge.

Into Canadian Politics?

This is why I hate the world. (3.77 / 9) (#122)
by Deus Horribilus on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 09:25:40 PM EST

Humanity sucks. For each caring person, there are ten who wish evil, and a thousand who wish nothing. Apathy is our greatest sin.

Not one of those hecklers seemed to grasp the levity of the situation, and it is this fact that forces me to understand why she jumped. Why live in a world where people would encourage you to kill yourself? Think about that. There is a paradox.

But worse than this, it is those of us that turn a blind eye to such behaviour that are the worst of all. The people who dismiss this with the sports news, the people who do not care at all about this tragedy of humankind. These people are the scum of the earth.

I believe it was once said:

"We must always fear the wicked. But there is another kind of evil that we must fear the most, and that is the indifference of good men."

Is that not the truth? I say, go out today and do something good. Make the world a better place. As long as tragedies like this happen, and as long as futile wars rage, there is the undying call for people to awaken to their own better halves. And when that happens, then I might gain respect for my own kind.

_________________________________________
"Beliefs are never concrete, they change direction like autumn leaves in a windstorm..."

I've got a comment on the comments.... (2.66 / 9) (#126)
by toganet on Sun Apr 28, 2002 at 11:52:50 PM EST

Ah, geeks. Some think it's the anime, or the monitor tans, but I know what it is that really sets you all apart: Your complete lack of humanity. You relate better to a computer than to other human beings.

Flame me if you will; I'd love to see you prove me right. But first, take a look at your comments, and imagine that woman as your mother, sister, lover. Now how do you feel?

If you feel no different, turn back to your PC. That is your kin.


Johnson's law: Systems resemble the organizations that create them.
My analysis (4.00 / 4) (#141)
by cyberdruid on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 07:05:14 AM EST

There has been lots of talk whether the drivers who yelled "jump" were
  1. Plain evil
  2. Displaying road rage, caused by having to slow down
  3. Emotionally detached, because physically from separated from the scene by their car
  4. Proof that humanity "sucks"
  5. Right, because it was wrong of the woman to hurt others with her death instead of quietly dying alone.
  6. etc...
IMHO attributing the behaviour to any of these is a rather shallow analysis (except for the physical detachment, which is probably a contributing factor). I think that yelling "jump" is a reflexive defense mechanism. A woman publicly displaying her pain, threatening to kill herself, is not easy to deal with emotionally. The frustration of being so helpless and not being able to control the outcome, makes some drivers subconsciously want to resolve the emotional suspense in any way possible. Thus yelling "jump" is a way of desperately trying to end the unpleasant situation. It is not caused by any reasoning part of the brain. It is caused by the part that mechanically withdraws from pain. The part that just wants to hide, by removing the disturbing scene out of sight.

This, by the way, is not intended as a defense of those drivers. I don't think they need a defense. Behaving like that hints to a mental disorder (no matter what the reason is), lacking the ability to handle emotional situations and perhaps bottling up aggression. No point in trying to find a scapegoat. Either we are all responsible for our actions and the woman who jumped was an asshole for unloading all that guilt and sorrow on to those who survived her or circumstances are an excuse and then nobody's to blame, because those drivers had been treated badly by the world earlier. Anything in between is just arbitrary and dependent on point of view.

Obviously... (3.50 / 6) (#163)
by Count Zero on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 10:16:44 AM EST

The less compassionate posters here have never had a loved one commit suicide, and don't know a damn thing about depression.

I really hope for your sakes that you never have to find out.
Kill yourself ELSEWHERE, please. (3.25 / 16) (#168)
by irreplicant on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 11:46:31 AM EST

For those of you from europe and elsewhere, I-95 is the major US interstate running along the east coast. To say that it's busy is a vast understatement. The northbound lanes were closed for 90 minutes. These are people with bosses that may not care about their excuses, despite what you may think. These people have rent to make and bills to pay. When someone threatens their livelihood like this, they get mad. They don't care what the fuck the problem is. For all they knew, it was a car accident until they heard about her on the radio. And then they just got mad. Some sad little bitch was blocking traffic on what could easily be considered the busiest road on the CONTINENT because she was SAD. She wanted to kill herself. No one cares. People kill themselves all the time, but most are considerate enough to do it in the privacy of their own home, not where it will fuck thousands of other people. THOUSANDS. 10 miles of solid parking lot. Fuck you, you self-righteous little prick. I only wish the bitch could've died of cancer before she hit the ground.

Disturbing (4.20 / 5) (#185)
by aphrael on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 03:06:11 PM EST

This has got to be one of the most disturbing discussions i've ever seen on Kuro5hin.

I can see the argument that a woman who ties up traffic is being selfish and imposing her problems on everyone else --- I feel the same way, more or less, about the people who chose to use CalTrain or BART as the weapon which ends their life (and then forces the train, and all of the ones behind it, to idle for hours while the police investigate).

But the fact that one woman is being rude and inconsiderate to the people stuck in traffic does not create an excuse for those same people angrily *encouraging* someone to kill themselves. I mean, I could understand it if the people doing it were middle-schoolers on a playground; or if traffic on that particular bridge were held up, day in and day out, by a constant stream of people using the bridge to kill themselves; but to encourage a complete stranger to kill themselves because, just this once, they are being rude and holding up traffic and impinging on your life --- well, that's somehow worse than rude in my book; it's downright pathetic.

And for a bunch of reasonably intelligent people sitting at home or at work discussing the issue on the computer to be outraged *at the woman*, as many of the posts in this thread are, is scary. I don't understand how anyone can honestly believe that her behavior was somehow worse than the behavior of the people yelling at her to jump.

What about the other side? (5.00 / 2) (#190)
by Elkor on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 04:21:25 PM EST

How many passing motorists yelled at her to not jump?

This being a tragedy piece, of course, the newsies are going to hype the negative side of the story. But how many people passed by and yelled "Don't do it!"

What about the number of neutral "Get off the bridge!" which could be interpreted either as an incitement to jump or an encouragement to stop blocking traffic by coming back from the ledge.

I'm sure there was at least one of each. I bet that if she hadn't jumped, the article would have attributed it to the officer's dedication as well as the positive encouragement of the drivers who didn't want her to jump.

But, since she did, they're just going to villify the ones who encouraged her to do it.

Either way, I question the balance of the reporting, though they get credit for the disclaimer at the bottom of the article.

Regards,
Elkor


"I won't tell you how to love God if you don't tell me how to love myself."
-Margo Eve
Everyone here was an asshole, except the policeman (5.00 / 1) (#198)
by sulli on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 06:14:22 PM EST

This is a really disturbing story. It certainly doesn't say much for humanity. Let's look at the players:

The drivers who told her to jump were clearly assholes. No excuse for that whatsoever.
The drivers who just sped by before traffic was stopped were arguably assholes as well, since they didn't stop to help. Now maybe they couldn't have done anything, but surely a driver or two could have come out and helped the cop talk to her and tell her it would be okay to survive.
The woman who committed suicide was also an asshole. Why? Total lack of consideration for anyone - her loved ones, these strangers on the bridge, and (of course) herself. Having lost a friend to suicide long ago, I still remember that anger many of us felt - and in her case it was worse since surely she knew she'd be blocking traffic and pissing people off.

The only one who wasn't was the cop. I really feel for him - he tried to save her, and couldn't.

depression (3.00 / 1) (#200)
by Fon2d2 on Mon Apr 29, 2002 at 06:57:01 PM EST

I see a lot of posts about how she was a self-agrandizing asshole to draw attention to herself and hold up so much traffic for so long. On the other hand I see a lot of the authors of those comments being called heartless.

Personally, I think she was being self-agrandizing. Willingly or not, through some weekness of character, she was using the situation to extract emotion from thousands of other motorists. The solution lies in recognizing and coming to terms with that fact. It's OK to be an emotional sink on other people, after all what are friends for? But at the same time one must recognize that every person has a tolerance for that kind of thing. It's been my philosophy that forcing such a burden on another person is wrong but seeking willing help is a very good thing. In forcing an emotional burden onto others one violates principles of respect. The burden essentially becomes a test of the faith of others and thus betrays its own lack of trust. That person then only ends up isolating him/herself further thereby confirming his/her unfounded fears.

What this lady needed was to understand the dual nature of her feelings. A shift in attitude coupled with a more thourough set of beliefs could have gone a long way in improving her happiness. I think the same of all depressed people, excluding the chemically imbalanced. That's not to say that she didn't need compassion or that helping her would have been easy. But it does help to explain the plethora of negative responses. Knowingly or not, she did force this emotional burden onto thousands of other people. Of course there were people not ready or willing to deal with it. It's all perfectly natural to me.

Suicidal Woman Blocks Traffic, Angry Drivers Tell Her to Jump. She does. | 227 comments (207 topical, 20 editorial, 1 hidden)
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