Suicidal juvenile thwarted from attempted Mt. Hope Bridge jump

Police pulled youngster back over railing to bridge

By Jim McGaw
Posted 12/2/19

PORTSMOUTH — A juvenile was prevented from jumping from the Mt. Hope Bridge by police and several citizens Sunday night, Dec. 1.

According to Detective Lt. John Cahoon, Portsmouth …

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Suicidal juvenile thwarted from attempted Mt. Hope Bridge jump

Police pulled youngster back over railing to bridge

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — A juvenile was prevented from jumping off the Mt. Hope Bridge by police and several motorists Sunday night, Dec. 1.

According to Detective Lt. John Cahoon, Portsmouth Police received a report at 10 p.m. of a pedestrian walking from Portsmouth toward Bristol on the bridge.

“Moments later, Officer James Thulier arrived on scene and observed three male parties holding on to a juvenile who had climbed over the railing was now being prevented from falling from the bridge,” Lt. Cahoon stated in a press release.  

“Officer Thulier reached over the railing and pulled the juvenile back onto the bridge as Officer JeanMarie Stewart arrived on the scene. Officer Thulier and Officer Stewart restrained and safely secured the juvenile in the rear of a police cruiser,” he said.

The Portsmouth Fire Department responded and transported the juvenile to a local hospital for an evaluation, Lt. Cahoon said.

The sleet that followed Sunday's snowstorm had turned to rain by the time the incident took place.

In a followup phone interview on Monday, Lt. Cahoon said police did not want to divulge the youth’s age or sex, only to say he or she lives in Portsmouth. “In a nutshell, we have a very unstable juvenile and our fear is we don’t want everything to go out in the paper,” he said.

Lt. Cahoon also said the three men who intervened in the situation were not from the same vehicle. 

“We got up there and saw multiple cars stopped on the bridge in that area. I don’t think those three guys knew each other,” he said.

On Oct. 29, a woman jumped from the Portsmouth side of the span but was rescued by a local couple and a state trooper.

Mt. Hope Bridge, Portsmouth Police Department

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.