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It was also the second save in three months for Officer Katherine Acevedo, who teamed up with Officer Anthony Estevez — both graduates of the PAPD’s 113th class.
The officers spotted the would-be jumper on the bridge’s south walkway around 7:45 this morning, the authority’s Joseph Pentangelo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Police also were receiving calls from bridge motorists headed into New York City that a man was acting suspiciously on the walkway.
He “admitted to the officers that he was depressed and was contemplating jumping from the bridge,” Pentangelo said.
They helped change his mind and he was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation, he said.
The PAPD’s 69 interventions this year represent an 86% increase over last year, Pentangelo said.
There have also been 17 confirmed deaths in leaps from the bridge.
There were 15 confirmed GWB suicides and 49 interventions last year.
These came after what is considered a recent GWB record, 18 suicides, that were recorded in 2012 — more than all of the other Hudson and East River crossings combined — following a decade that averaged six per year.
The Port Authority this summer announced plans for a nine-foot, $50 million barrier to deter would-be jumpers, following one planned at the Golden Gate Bridge in California (SEE: GWB suicide nets are good news).
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