Desperation, frustration, mental illness, drugs; who knows what causes an individual to step outside the bounds of "rational behavior"?
Bridge climber disrupts downtown traffic | www.tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Bridge climber disrupts downtown traffic
Man who scales bridge creates a spectacle
By RACHEL STULTS • Staff Writer • August 4, 2008
Just before 10 a.m. Sunday, a man climbed to the top of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge in Nashville.
He took with him a bottle of water and a Bible and began pacing the scorching beams of steel, threatening to jump.
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He told police he was depressed over relationship issues. A negotiation team tried to persuade the man to come down, and broadcast a recording of his girlfriend's voice over a loudspeaker.
"Ricky, what are you doing?" she said. "Please come down."
"I love you, baby."
Police kept the girlfriend away from the scene but nearby in case she was needed.
More than four hours later, the man, who told police he was 40 years old, homeless and unemployed, came down from the bridge on a ladder set up by the Nashville Fire Department.
Police have not released the identity of the man, who said he sleeps somewhere near the bridge. He told police this was not the first time he had climbed the bridge — just the first time anyone had seen him.
Sgt. David McDonald said he thought this was the first time anyone climbed the bridge, which opened in May 2004.
Most people might be thwarted when they realized the effort it would take to shimmy up the bridge to its arch.
"An irrational person is going to do it anyway," McDonald said.
If they were looking, travelers driving into downtown could see the man, a speck atop the bridge, with his arms outstretched, pacing across the structure.
Traffic on the bridge was blocked and dozens of people watched the drama unfold from downtown businesses and parks.
"I've never seen anything like that," said Jennifer Pearson, a hostess at Sole Mio restaurant, where a wall of windows overlooked the scene. Customers' eyes were locked on the bridge, she said, waiting for the man's next move.
"You see a lot in Nashville," she said. "But nothing like that."
He paced the beams, occasionally stopping to sit on the ledge with his legs dangling over the Cumberland River. He was shirtless, reading his Bible and talking to God.
Although bridge traffic was blocked off, police couldn't do much about river traffic. Several boats, including the General Jackson showboat, made their way under the bridge while the man stood at its crest.
Just before 2 p.m., the man made his way down the arched beams, onto the moving ladder that brought him to safety. He was taken into custody for a psychiatric evaluation, police said.
