On Monday night, a New Jersey father jumped from a bridge over the Wanaque River. Police believe he may have been holding his two sons, aged 1 and 3, when he made his dive, which was fatal for him. The boys, however, miraculously survived the fall and are being treated injuries that aren’t considered to be life threatening.
In the above video, Pequannock Capt. Christopher DePuyt reveals how the father’s vehicle was found on the bridge, which DePuyt says he can “only surmise” enabled the father to climb over the fence barrier with his sons. This barrier on the Interstate 287 bridge (which includes a 32-inch concrete wall and a 6-foot fence) was specifically built in 2004 to deter suicides after about a dozen people leaped to their deaths after the bridge’s 1993 construction.
No video footage or witnesses can reveal exactly what happened near the bridge’s 56-mile marker, but the man was traced through his cell phone after he reportedly left his home during a fight with his wife (during which he threatened to kill the children). The man’s dead body was recovered, and somehow, his children — whose falls may have been broken by trees — are still alive. The younger child suffered a bruised lung while the older boy sustained a concussion. The boys remain hospitalized.
Capt. DePuyt described the incident as a domestic dispute that ended as “horribly as it possibly could.”
(Via NBC NY, New Jersey State Police, NorthJersey.com & NBC New York)