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Published on Tuesday, June 1, 2004
in the Daytona Beach News-Journal
ST. PETERSBURG -- A man who said he wanted to jump to his death from the Sunshine Skyway bridge was grabbed by two state troopers Monday just as he let go, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The man had used a cell phone to call a friend early in morning from the bridge that towers over Tampa Bay and saod he planned to jump, troopers said.
The friend called 911. The call was routed to Trooper Mark Cross, on routine patrol along the 5-mile stretch of bridge.
When Cross approached the man and began talking to him, the man already was hanging off, Cross said.
"Only his upper torso and his right leg were on the inside of the barrier wall," Cross told The Tampa Tribune. "The rest of him was hanging over."
As Cross talked to the man, Trooper Dan Cole arrived and positioned himself toward the man's back and waited. Cross said the jumper said he "had nothing left to live for" and released his hold on the bridge wall.
Cole and Cross lunged and caught the man.
"It was a struggle to get him back over the wall because he really wanted to end it and to jump, and he wasn't helping us drag him back over," Cross said. "I guess it was just adrenaline because he was a big man and we managed to save him."
Two St. Petersburg Fire & Rescue firefighters helped pull the man to safety.
Cross said the man was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
Trooper Larry Coggins said that since January 2000, the FHP has rescued or prevented 45 people from jumping off the bridge.