A man in his 30s is believed to have jumped to his death this morning near the Pike overpass of I-5. Seattle Fire confirms that they responded to a report of a male who had jumped onto the freeway in the midst of Wednesday’s morning commute just after 8a. Seattle traffic, already challenged by the 9-day Viaduct closure, backed up for miles on I-5 northbound as emergency crews responded to the incident.
The area near the Pike and Pine overpasses of I-5 has lately seen regular occurrences of people jumping, falling or attempting to cross the busy freeway. CHS reported on a recent clean-up of nearby homeless encampments beneath the overpasses.
CHS respects the sensitivity of covering suicide and attempts to cover these stories by sharing the facts in a responsible manner that provides information about what is happening on the streets and in the community around you. Here are two resources to help those in need: National suicide-prevention hotline: 800-SUICIDE. Local Crisis Clinic: (206) 461-3222.
I was one of the first cars to drive by after this happened…it was one of the most horrifying things I have every seen and will haunt me for a very long time.
Is this the result of the suicide fences on the Aurora Bridge?
Experts had assured us that it wouldn’t happen.
(The real answer is that, thankfully, the numbers of suicides are probably too low to allow any meaningful statistical analysis)
I had this same thought this morning as I drove by this. I witnessed the last one with the fellow in his 50s/60s that bounded over. I feel sorry for the drivers that have to endure this horror.
I can only imagine… of course, I am also not trying very hard to. May you find some peace.
And so may his family. :(
I was on a bus that swerved to miss the miss man when he jumped. Some passengers saw him jump and hit the pavement. It’s very sad that anyone is feels so hopeless to do this.
Me too. It was a terrible thing to witness. I know its sad people, but the person who did this was a selfish jerk though. Not only was this a very traumatic way to start the day. it also could have caused a very serious accident. I still cant shake it out of my head right now. I really wish people would think about how they affect other when they act out like this.
i just wish i knew why. its hard for this to be real with out the details. his family will miss him and i hope he knows that we do actualy love him.
It surely is possible to effectively fence off this area from the freeway so that these incidents do not occur. Yes, I know that homeless people like to tear fences down, but WSDOT engineers could design a strong fence to thwart their efforts if they wanted to. Just do it, WSDOT!
My partner and I were driving to work and witnessed the man come down from the overpass. We were just exiting onto Olive. We called 911. It was horrific. It’s been incredibly difficult to make sense of the situation – I am grateful to CHS for posting this and to those who have posted their own comments, as it helps tremendously in processing a day that has truly made a lasting impression.
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even those few days or weeks. We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind.” ― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
THERE ARE ALOT OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DYING IN SEATTLE, YET IT RECEIVES VERY LITTLE ATTENTION, MUCH LESS QUESTIONING AS TO WHY AND WHEREFORES.
WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE VICTIM ALLEGED TO BE MALE WHO IS ALLEGED TO HAVE JUMPED ON I-5 ON 10-26-11?
THERE ARE HOMELESS WHO ARE DYING ALSO, EVEN GIVING UP HOPE, AS THEY ARE HERDED INTO SHELTER WHERE HOSTILITIES EXIST, OR, ARE TURNED AWAY AND LEFT ON THE STREET WITHOUT NO ONE, WHILE THE GOVERNOR REFUSES AND HAS NOT OPENED NATIONAL GUARD ARMORIES FOR THOSE TURNED AWAY FROM SHELTERS, OR, WHO WOULD NOT GO INTO SHELTERS DUE TO THE VIOLENCE AND HOSTILITIES EXISTENT.
Yes, what was his name and why hasn’t this been reported anywhere besides this blog? Doesn’t this deserve media attention? How many people are actually falling or jumping from this overpass? We are all silent victims.
he was my boyfriends older brother and my best friend. its crushing me that they havent given any info about it we still dont know what actually happened its devastating media needs to be giving each incident individual coverage but since there is so many they are just genericly lumping situations together giveing no one enough information so we as the friends and family can figure out how to feel.i would actualy be thankful if anyone who saw him,could bring them selves to email me at [email protected] thank you
There are very few nights every year when shelter beds are not available and people turned away. I don’t think homeless people avoid shelters because of “violence and hostilities”…that is an untrue rationalization. They avoid them because they are prohibited from using alcohol and drugs there.
If I recall correctly.. suicides aren’t reported by the mainstream media to discourage copycat suicides. I don’t think there is some sweeping conspiracy to cover this up
Can you imagine the unbelievable pain someone must have been suffering from to feel the need to do that? I pray for him and his family. So sorry for those who witnessed it too. My son did and it will be a long time before he gets over it. How do you erase that from your mind when you have to travel that road every day?
The man who jumped was a family member. He was not a homeless person. I cannot imagine the horror for those that witnessed this and the unbearable pain he was in when he took this awful action. His family and friends miss him tremendously and are reeling from this tragedy.
I hope the people that saw it happen will find support to deal with something so unimaginabley shocking and horrific. My thoughts go out to you all.
I experienced something unbelievable today,I’m going to work right, on i-5 northbound and I’m by the convention center exit a little bit past the heart of Seattle and as soon coming out of the second tunnel theirs the pike st. Overpass and bro I seen something falling right up ahead about 25-30yrds in front of me and thought it was a trash bag or some debris flying around that the semi truck in front of me pick up at first, but I i seen a shoe fly over on the right of my car and then I realized that WAS A HUMAN BEING!!! I swerved quickly to the left and avoided hitting him going 75mph And I turned to look to see if that was a person and all I seen was his bloody face and eyes looking at me as I pAssed by.