Soldier jumps from Tacoma Narrows bridge, swims away

This soldier pulled over to the side of the bridge. According to the officer, he was drunk. Did he pull over to sleep it off so that no one got hurt? What he was thinking, we may never know but somewhere there is a soldier who vanished after jumping off a bridge. Somewhere there is a family terrified the worst happened to someone they love.

Soldier jumps from Tacoma Narrows bridge
POSTED BY MIKE ARCHBOLD ON DECEMBER 20, 2010 AT 12:17 PM

A 25-year-old soldier from jumped off the eastbound Narrows bridge early this morning after talking briefly with a Washington State Patrol trooper who responded to a report of car stopped on the bridge.

Patrol spokeswoman Trooper Brandy Kessler said the trooper watched the man suddenly rush toward the railing and jump over. He saw the man face down in the water and then the man, who apparently survived the initial jump, started to swim away, she said.

“Then the trooper couldn’t see him anymore,” she said. She said th eman's name won't be released to te public.

The Tacoma Fire Department's fire boat searched the water south of the bridge where he was last seen without success. They turned the search over to the U.S. Coast Guard about 8 a.m. A Coast Guard helicopter and a 25-foot boat took up the search south of the bridge. It was suspended about 10:30 a.m., a Coast Guard spokesman said.

Kessler said they don’t know if the man, who was intoxicated, was trying to commit suicide. In his condition, she said the man might not have known where he was or even thought he could survive the jump.



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