Bridge jumper prompts exhaustive Salem Harbor search

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Bridge jumper prompts exhaustive Salem Harbor search

By JILL HARMACINSKI

Staff writer

SALEM -- A person jumped off the Veterans Memorial Bridge late yesterday afternoon, prompting an extensive search by local police, firefighters, harbormasters and the U.S. Coast Guard.

At press time early this morning, no one had been found and there was little hope that whoever had jumped from the bridge survived the 50-foot fall into the 40-degree water below.

"We tried," Salem Police Sgt. Peter Shaffaval said just after 8 p.m., as the search was suspended for the night.

Public safety workers are expected to resume the search again around 9 this morning, Shaffaval said.

A Coast Guard helicopter searched from the air, while a Coast Guard cutter, joined by harbormasters' boats from Danvers, Salem and Beverly, searched Beverly Harbor last night.

"They scoured a good way out, but there's not much more we can do tonight," said Salem Police Sgt. Conrad Prosniewski, who heads the department's dive team.

The incident occurred at high tide, on an outgoing tide. Prosniewski noted, "it wouldn't take long with the tide to carry him way out."

Rescuers had no idea who they were looking for last night. They did not find an abandoned car in the area. Nor did they find a note or any other clues to the jumper's identity.

"We have nothing to go on except a statement from a credible eyewitness," Prosniewski said.

At 4:30 p.m., a Salem man driving over the bridge toward Beverly called police when he saw someone jump from the bridge, which carries drivers to and from the cities of Salem and Beverly.

Mike Pastorello of 20 Bridge St. couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. Pastorello said the person climbed up on top of the guardrail, "stood with both feet on the railing and jumped off."

"It happened just like that," said Pastorello, snapping his fingers. Pastorello grabbed his cell phone and called police.

Within minutes, dozens of police officers, firefighters, harbormasters, ambulance workers and a Salvation Army disaster response team arrived at the bridge.

Rescuers believed they had approximately 60 minutes to find the jumper alive. After that, the chances of surviving the fall and staying alive in the frigid water significantly decreased, said Shaffaval, who is also a trained diver.

"We had that hour window," he noted.

Salem detectives even used an infrared camera, which detects heat sources, to scan the water for the victim.

Close to a dozen Salem police and Beverly Fire Department divers were called and they waited at the foot of the bridge on both sides of the river. However, Prosniewski said, none of the divers were needed in the water last night.

The Veterans Memorial Bridge has been the site of numerous suicides in recent years, the most recent when an elderly Peabody man jumped to his death in June 2001.

There have also been countless false alarms, when people have jumped from the bridge, survived and been found later at nearby bars or restaurants.

In late August of this year, a man told police he was God, jumped from the bridge and survived. He was charged with disorderly conduct immediately afterwards.

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Bridge jumper may have been hoax

By TOM DALTON

Staff writer

SALEM -- The extensive search and rescue effort conducted Monday for the person who supposedly jumped from the Beverly-Salem Bridge was apparently in vain.

Officials now believe it was probably a hoax.

Although a "very credible" witness, who was driving over the bridge toward Beverly, said he saw a person jump off the bridge at about 4 p.m. Monday, a new witness, who was driving in the opposite direction, came forward yesterday with a different version of events.

"That (second) person said, as he crested over the top of the bridge, he saw what he thought was someone standing on the railing jump off," said Police Sgt. Conrad Prosniewski, a detective and member of the police dive team.

"As he kept going, he saw a head pop up and realized that the person had actually jumped off the Jersey barrier, which was right next to the railing. It gave the illusion that someone had jumped off the bridge."

The unidentified person came up laughing from behind the Jersey barrier, a 3-foot high cement roadway barrier, and got into a car that drove off, the witness told police.

Prosniewski said police believe the first witness may have seen someone jumping and thought the person was on the railing. That original motorist had to drive a short distance, due to safety concerns, before stopping to check, police said.

When he got back to look for what he thought was a bridge jumper, he found nobody on the bridge and nobody in the water.

"The general description given us by that motorist (Tuesday) was the same general description given by the witness (Monday) night, who was a very credible guy and probably believed what he saw," said Prosniewski.

Both witnesses said they saw a person in a large dark jacket, police said.

A police dive team planned to go into the frigid water Tuesday morning, but called it off after the new witness came forward with a different version of events.

"Based on that, and the strong possibility they may have both witnessed the same incident, we decided not to risk putting divers into the water," Prosniewski said.

Monday's search involved police and fire personnel from Salem and Beverly, the harbormasters from both communities, and a Coast Guard cutter and helicopters.

Patrol boats continued to check the area yesterday in the event someone had actually jumped from the bridge, Prosniewski said.