Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 24, 1995                   TAG: 9507240142
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE OFFICER TALKS MAN OUT OF JUMP

But in the end, a Roanoke police officer talked him out of jumping from Wasena Bridge in Southwest Roanoke.

For the better part of a half-hour, beginning about 6:15 p.m., the man squatted on a ledge on the east side of the bridge and held on to the rail above him.

Officer L. Jackson was the first policeman on the scene, Roanoke police Sgt. Guy Hurley said. Jackson found the man distraught and threatening to jump, he said.

Jackson stood on the bridge a few feet away talking to the man while pigeons flew in and out of the steel girders below the man's feet. Police stopped traffic on the bridge throughout the ordeal.

After a few minutes, the man stood and edged toward Jackson, but returned to his squatting position just out of Jackson's reach. Minutes later, as two family members arrived, the man began inching toward the north end of the bridge. Jackson kept a hand on the man's shoulder as he moved along.

Finally, about 40 feet from the end of the bridge, Jackson pulled him over the railing and carried him to the middle of the bridge, where other officers waited.

The man, who appeared to be in his mid-20s, was upset over domestic problems, Hurley said. He was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for evaluation.