38 Year Old Man Stops Downtown Connector in Atlanta

The I-75/85 Downtown Connector in Atlanta was closed for a short time today. A 38 year old man, standing on the ledge of a bridge overlooking the highway, announced that he was planning to jump.However, within minutes a policeman was able to convince the man otherwise and he was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.

The Downtown Connector was reopened in about thirty minutes. Even though this event did not take place during the morning or evening rush hour, that thirty minutes was enough time for Atlanta traffic to back up for many miles. Hundreds of Atlanta drivers were inconvenienced and most likely were behind schedule for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I happened to be one of those drivers, on my way to an appointment with a client.

While stopped on the highway, I listened to a local radio show's account of this incident. The would-be jumper did not live in Atlanta, but was from the Houston area. He told police that he was having "some personal issues" and allowed police to easily dissuade him from jumping onto the Downtown Connector. It sounded more like a cry for help than a suicide attempt.

I have a lot of sympathy for this man. So much so that he has been on my mind all day. I have temporarily put aside the other articles that I had been working on, so that I could write about this man who I do not even know.

This man must have felt so hopeless and discouraged in order to attempt such an act, even as half-hearted as it seemed to be. Was he a lonely man with no friends or family to talk to and commiserate with? Was he really planning to jump or was this the only way he could think of to get anyone to listen to him or to even notice him? Or was he simply out of his mind?

I guess I will never know. This man's five minutes of fame is up. As he sits in Grady Memorial Hospital tonight, the incident he caused today on the Downtown Connector in Atlanta is just a fleeting memory for the hundreds of Atlanta drivers on the road.

It has also occurred to me that if the police had not closed the Downtown Connector as quickly as they did, and this man did jump onto the highway, I could have been the driver that could have hit him.

I hope and pray that this man is getting the help that he so desperately needs or at least that someone knows he is alive. Additionally I hope that if he decides to try it again, he does it in Houston!