High Drama: Port Authority Police Rescue Suicidal Man, 24, Perched Past GWB Railing

A despondent Bronx man was perched on a narrow ledge after climbing over the upper-level westbound railing on the George Washington Bridge before dawn Thursday when a trio of Port Authority police officers arrived.

(l. to r.) Sgt. Michael Barry, Officer Miguel Correa-Rodriguez, George Kwiecinski
Photo Credit: *INSETS: Courtesy PORT AUTHORITY PD / PHOTO: Jerry DeMarco*

Jerry DeMarco

08/29/2019 12:53 p.m.

Officers responding to a 911 call shortly before 5:30 a.m. found the 24-year-old Bronx man on the northside perch threatening to jump, said Steve Coleman, the Port Authority's deputy media director.

Officer Miguel Correa-Rodriguez and Sgt. Michael Barry were talking with him when the man "began to walk along the narrow perch on the outside of the railing, seeking to avoid [them]," Coleman said.

"The man then reached a point on the ledge where he could no longer move," he said, '[when] Sgt. Barry, Officer Correa-Rodriguez and PAPD Officer George Kwiecinski, fearing that the the man was about to jump, reached over the railing and grabbed him.

"A brief struggle ensued," Coleman said, "but the officers were able to pull the man back over the railing to safety."

He was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

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