Stuck on the 210 Freeway

Last night, Jenny and I were stuck on the 210 freeway for an hour and a half. We went from being so thankful about carpooling, since we were zipping by traffic, to being at a complete standstill (with fifty of our closest friends) as Sheriff negotiators kept a suicide jumper from making his leap.

From the SGV Tribune:

DUARTE - A man was in custody late Tuesday night after threatening to jump from a pedestrian overpass, officials said.

Francisco Sanchez, in his late 30s, surrendered to sheriff's deputies and fire officials and was taken into custody just before 8 p.m.

The incident was reported about 6:20 p.m. on the 210 Freeway at Buena Vista Street, according to California Highway Patrol Lt. Merritt Mielke.

Sanchez cut through chain link fencing on the Broadland Avenue overpass, and pulled himself through, according to CHP Sgt. Kevin Porter.

Sanchez has done this numerous times over recent years, sheriff's and CHP officials said.

Sanchez has two prosthetic legs from when he broke both ankles jumping from an overpass on the 605 Freeway in 2003, according to a 2006 article in this newspaper.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department crisis negotiator was summoned to the scene, officials said.

Local fire departments also arrived at the scene and deployed air bags on the freeway beneath the pedestrian overpass in case the man decided to jump, Mielke said.

A Sig Alert had been issued and traffic in both directions of the 210 freeway was held up for almost two hours.

Sheriff's Temple station Lt. Mike O'Shea said he did not know exactly where Sanchez was taken Tuesday, but he said it was almost certainly a mental health facility of some kind.

"There's nothing criminal about trying to kill yourself," he said.

- Brian Day

My random musings:
- Earlier that evening, I had called the Denver shooter a coward, not only for killing others, but also for taking his own life. What a selfish act from a pathetic coward, lashing out like a little baby.
- If a person has tried numerous times to commit suicide, is it morally wrong to just pull the airbags and let him succeed? Don't get me wrong, we prayed for the man, and were content to hear that he survived.
- The freeway is really dark at night when everyone turns off their headlights.
- Why weren't we allowed to exit the freeway? We were at least 3 exits and more than 2 miles west of the incident.
- I didn't understand people who would honk out of frustration. Of course, I had the pleasant company of my wife next to me.
- We each read through our entire Google Reader lists on my Blackberry while waiting, plus we made it through the Marketplace evening report podcast.