INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A 23-year-old man who threatened to jump from a bridge platform was unharmed after deputies convinced him to climb back up to safety after a two-hour crisis negotiation. The platform is an estimated 55 feet above the Indian River Lagoon below, sheriff’s officials said.
“We talked to him. We let him know there’s people that love him – his mother and sister,” said Edouard Gast, the Indian River County sheriff’s crisis negotiator who calmly spoke to the man at the scene. “We got him to think about the people that love him and care about him.”
Indian River County sheriff’s officials on Wednesday released the four-minute body-camera footage of the rescue.
Deputies said the man had an active warrant out of Port St. Lucie on a burglary with battery charge. Port St. Lucie police contacted Indian River deputies about 1:50 a.m. Sunday, August 2, notifying them about the wanted man who lived in Vero Beach.
“We were already looking for him,” said Lt. Kevin Jaworski, a spokesperson for the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
The man contacted his mother and said he was going to kill himself, Jaworski said. The mother then called deputies.
Jaworski said the man shared his location with his mother. Deputies said the man climbed over a railing at the top of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge.
“We found his unoccupied car at the top of the bridge,” Jaworski said. “He climbed down about 20 feet on a ladder from the top of the bridge onto a platform.”
Four crisis negotiators with the sheriff’s office were at the scene. A sheriff’s marine boat, along with fire rescue boats, sat on the water as a safety precaution during the negotiation.
The man sat on the edge of the railing as Gast tried to convince him to climb back up the ladder.
At one point, the man’s mother came to the bottom of the bridge, Jaworski said. After two hours, the man, who did not have a weapon, eventually climbed back up the ladder about 4 a.m.
Body camera footage shows the man hugging deputies after reaching the top.
“He climbed back up on his own,” Jaworski said. “Once he climbed back over, they allowed him to talk to his mom.”
The man was taken to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and turned over to the Port St. Police Department.
