THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408280030
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GLOUCESTER LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
A series of coincidences, including a traffic jam, led to the rescue of a man who jumped off the Coleman Bridge into the York River.
The jumper, 24-year-old Marcus J. Ripley of Gloucester Point, was in serious but stable condition Saturday at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, a nursing supervisor said.
The rescue effort was set in motion by two women whose car was stopped on the bridge in the traffic jam, which begin with a minor wreck. As the women waited for traffic to clear at 2:15 p.m., they saw Ripley wave to them and jump off the bridge.
The women's screams alerted bridge tender Glen Bumgarner. ``I went out and looked and saw him in the water. I called the emergency dispatcher and then I used the bullhorn to direct the two boats down there to him,'' said Bumgarner.
Two boatloads of off-duty Coast Guardsmen reached Ripley within about two minutes after he hit the water, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robert L. Johnson, who was aboard one of the boats.
Johnson said two more minutes probably would have been too late.
``He was about three feet under when I got there. He was unconscious, but his heart was pumping fast,'' Johnson said.
Johnson and two Coast Guard petty officers from the other boat - Michael J. Hessman and Thomas D. Divane - jumped into the water and, with the help of Petty Officer 1st Class George Turlington, pulled the man into Turlington's boat.
Hessman said the man was bleeding when they pulled him out of the water, and that his lungs were filled with fluid, which he expelled after they got him into the boat.
Abingdon Rescue Squad Chief Paul Nichols said Ripley suffered extensive bruising to his torso and head.
Bumgarner said Ripley jumped from the highest part of the bridge, at the center, which has a drop of about 75 feet.
Bumgarner said the jump was the first off the bridge while he was on duty. He said he talked an older man out of jumping several months ago, inviting him into the draw house and giving him some orange juice.
``It's nerve-racking, something like this,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: RESCUES by CNB