GILROY
– A woman threatened to commit suicide Thursday by jumping from
the U.S. Highway 101 overpass onto Monterey Street below, but a
California Highway Patrol officer grabbed her before she could make
the leap.
GILROY – A woman threatened to commit suicide Thursday by jumping from the U.S. Highway 101 overpass onto Monterey Street below, but a California Highway Patrol officer grabbed her before she could make the leap.
The CHP closed northbound 101 for 20 minutes while negotiating with the woman, and Gilroy police closed the Monterey Street underpass.
The 34-year-old Gilroy woman, whose name was not released, was drinking vodka from a pint bottle while she talked to CHP officer Chris Dugger on the bridge, according to CHP Sgt. Dave Hill.
She was also carrying a book in a black case, which Gilroy police found to be a Bible after they took her into custody.
Police took the woman to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose for a psychiatric evaluation and do not plan to press criminal charges, according to Sgt. Kurt Svardal.
“She is obviously needing a little help,” Svardal said.
“What her motivation is for wanting to do this is beyond us,” he added. “She was quoting or making reference to the Bible quite a bit when she was talking. … She’s not making a whole lot of sense. … She’s been drinking a little bit, and she’s hard to understand.”
Police and CHP officers responded to the overpass shortly after 12:30 p.m. The woman was sitting on the bridge railing and from time to time hung one leg over the edge.
“Our first officer on the scene (Dugger) struck up a conversation with her and gained her confidence,” Hill said. “He started talking to her, small talk. She didn’t want to talk to anybody else who came to the scene, just him.”
Officers asked the woman if she wanted a handkerchief and placed one on the ground to try to draw her away from the railing.
She didn’t want it, but when officers offered her a paper tissue, she accepted.
She was sitting on the railing, poised to fall backwards off the edge at any moment, when Dugger approached to give her the tissue. As he handed it to her, he reached behind her, pulled her away from the edge and held her as Gilroy police officers restrained her.
If the woman had jumped from the bridge, the impact onto the street below could have killed her, but people have survived higher falls, according to CALSTAR flight nurse David Wiebe.
Staff Photographer Max Morse contributed to this report.
