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Man Flees Traffic Stop, Jumps Off GW Bridge, Disappears
By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 20, 2009
Modified Nov 20, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Nov 20, 2009
Modified Nov 20, 2009
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[UPDATE BELOW] Life is so unpredictable: One minute you're pulling out of a New Jersey gas station, the next minute you're diving off the George Washington Bridge to escape police after a high-speed chase. An unidentified man presumably fell to his death yesterday morning after trying to escape from cops who pulled him over for a "routine stop" while driving his 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix through Fort Lee. Police say the man was pulled over around 9:30 a.m. for failing to yield, and the vehicle "had law enforcement equipment inside." But within minutes he sped away toward the bridge, with the fuzz in hot pursuit.
Most people would give up after coming to a crashing halt on the upper level of the GW, but after slamming into another car, the fugitive dashed to the edge of the bridge and leaped into the Hudson. As of last night, his body had not been found, but as one jumper demonstrated earlier this month, it is possible to survive the plunge.
UPDATE: Website CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM, your "first and best news source for Bergen, Hudson and beyond," scored "ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE" today, getting a quote from the driver whose car was clipped by the fugitive. Motorist Andy Rosenberg says the guy "just hopped out of his car and made a beeline. He never even paused. He got over that little guardrail, put his foot on the railing [for the bridge] and jumped. It happened so fast, the police had no chance to get to him." CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM also reports that the man is a New York state corrections officer from Middletown, N.Y. who had argued with his wife earlier that morning. (Which might explain why he didn't hesitate to jump off the bridge.)
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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