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A Port Authority police officer came up on her, however, forcing the Manhattan woman to hop onto the walkway and run before he grabbed her, the authority’s Joseph Pentangelo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Bridge security Supervisor Johnny Vasquez radioed police after seeing the woman leaning over the railing at the tower on the New York City side around 11:45 a.m., Pentangelo said.
A little over a half-hour earlier, a van crashed into a median near the toll booths on the New Jersey side. Emergency crews were finishing up and about to reopen all lanes a little after 11:50 a.m. (SEE: Bread truck driver, 82, breaks leg in crash that closes NJ-bound GWB).
Port Authority K9 Officer Christopher Outhouse parked on the upper level, climbed over the roadway railing and approached the woman, who had nearly half of her 5-foot-2-inch, 130-pound frame leaning over the walkway railing above the Hudson River, Pentangelo said.
Seeing the officer, she pushed off and ran toward Manhattan, he said, but Outhouse caught her and took her into custody.
She was first taken to the bus station on the New York side, where she was evaluated by New York City Fire Department EMS personnel and then to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, Pentangelo said.
The woman was carrying several unfilled medicine prescriptions to treat bi-polar disorder and depression, police said.
Her cellphone also had text messages saying she intended to kill herself.
She also mentioned a past suicide attempt involving a possible drug overdose, Pentangelo said.
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