Went for a bike ride on Saturday across the George Washington bridge from Manhattan and up the Palisades a bit. All together a great outing. There was one snag getting from Riverside Park to the bike path for the bridge; had to make a detour the long way around the block.
Turns out that was a helpful bit of fate. As we approached the NJ side, where the bridge is still quite high, but over the little bit of low coast there was an emerging commotion. A man had jumped just prior to our arrival. Bystanders were eager to relay the details “we saw him crawl up on the railing” “landed right on his back”. You couldn’t see the landing spot due to some thick brush and trees. Not to be too callous about a tragic death, but this wasn’t a good spot to land — way too much foliage to break the fall. People have survived parachute failures and this wasn’t high enough to guarantee a quick death. Police and paramedics were quickly on the scene and we managed to get away without serious emotional scars since we missed both the jump and the gore.
Another remarkable aspect of this was the complete, total lack of news coverage. Not even a passing comment on NY-1. So sad to say, but when it happens often enough it’s no longer news.