Police divers search river for Blue Water Bridge [Port Huron, MI] jumper
Shrike
By CHRIS MACKINDER and SHANNON MURPHY
Port Huron [MI] Times Herald
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/NEWS01/606140307/1002
Officials are expected to resume searching the St. Clair River
today for the body of a 30-year-old Sarnia man who police said
jumped about 8 a.m. Tuesday from the American side of the Blue
Water Bridge.
Port Huron police Lt. Larry David said Joseph Collin Cloud parked
his vehicle on the American side of the bridge. A short time
later, a bridge worker on the Canadian side noticed the vehicle
and a man standing near the railing.
When the worker approached, police said, Cloud took off his shoes
and a necklace and jumped over the railing. Police were able to
identify him from items left at the scene.
The U.S. Coast Guard and the St. Clair County Sheriff Marine
Division spent most of Tuesday combing the St. Clair River with
boats and divers. A Coast Guard spokesman in Detroit said the
search extended to Stag Island near Marysville. Sarnia police
also helped in the effort.
Lt. William Krul, head of the sheriff marine division, said
typically when a body hits the water from a 150-foot bridge jump,
it sinks to the bottom of the river.
Krul said, working from experience, divers searched areas where
drowning victims usually are found after a jump. He said because
of the strong current near the bridge, the body usually is taken
further south.
About 15 divers responded to the scene Tuesday. Krul said divers
are deployed for about 20 minutes at a time and search the bottom
of the river.
It is the responsibility of police agencies from both sides of
the border to search for drowning victims.
If the person jumps from the American side of the bridge, it's
the Port Huron Police Department's responsibility to begin an
investigation, a sheriff department official said.
Tuesday's search was called off about 3:30 p.m.
- - -
A HISTORY
BRIDGE SUICIDES, SURVIVORS
The Blue Water Bridge has lured several suicidal people since
opening in 1938. Some have jumped and died. Others have been
talked down. Here are some of the jumpers:
# The Port Huron Police Department is investigating a Tuesday
morning incident during which a 30-year-old Sarnia man jumped
from the bridge.
# Paul A. Friesen, 63, of Troy jumped Jan. 21, 2006. His body was
discovered about 85 minutes later floating in the St. Clair River
about three miles south of the bridge near Dow Chemical Canada Inc.
# The Ontario Provincial Police in Point Edward investigated an
April 6, 2004, incident during which a 40-year-old Sarnia man is
suspected to have jumped from the bridge. The man is considered a
missing person.
# An unidentified 34-year-old Port Huron woman was talked back
into her van April 4, 2004, by a Michigan Department of
Transportation worker. Police received reports the woman was
standing near the railing and possibly trying to jump from the
middle of the bridge's eastbound span.
# Bruce Douglas Scott, 80, of Sarnia jumped Nov. 15, 2002,
narrowly missing a passing freighter. His body was recovered 10
minutes later.
# Robert Mariuz, 47, of Sarnia jumped from the bridge June 12,
1999. His body was pulled from the St. Clair River the next day.
# An unidentified man from the Sarnia area was talked down from
the bridge July 16, 1999. He was admitted to Sarnia General Hospital.
# Roy T. Mascotto of St. Clair Shores jumped and died in February
1998.
# John A. Lapish, a former Romeo High School teacher and coach,
jumped from the bridge June 26, 1989. The former Port Huron High
School star athlete's truck was found abandoned on the bridge. He
was despondent about family problems.
# Lester M. Scotti, 37, of Woodbridge, Ill., became the third
person to survive a jump when he leaped from the bridge Sept. 23,
1982. The disabled government worker was plucked from the water
by a deckhand with the Lakes Pilot Association.
# Milford R. Reynolds, 47, of Port Huron jumped from the bridge
July 5, 1982, and died. He had been involved earlier in an
argument with his estranged wife and her boyfriend.
# A 14-year-old Sarnia boy jumped to elude police on the Canadian
side Aug. 26, 1971, and survived. He swam from the river and
walked around for seven hours before going to the hospital.
# An unidentified former Port Huron woman jumped Oct. 12, 1969,
and survived. She was the first to jump from the bridge and live.
# Chase S. Osborn III, 47, died after jumping from the bridge
April 14, 1966. He was a St. Clair lawyer.