11:00 p.m.: The Detroit News reports a woman who jumped onto the Woodward Avenue underpass was a 40-year-old Oakland County resident. She was taken to in critical condition and later died.
About 1:30 p.m.: A woman jumped from a bridge onto the southbound underpass lane of Woodward Avenue just south of the Interstate 696 service drive early Saturday afternoon, police confirmed.
Michael Flener of Pleasant Ridge was driving by near the Detroit Zoo when he saw a woman stop her vehicle on the turnaround bridge.
“She was out of her car and up on the rail,” Flener said. “My first thought when I was driving by was ‘uh-oh’.” Flener said he didn’t see much after that.
Sgt. Michael Bunting of the Pleasant Ridge Police confirmed a person jumped off the turnaround bridge in Pleasant Ridge before 1:30 p.m. and was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
"She parked her car on the turnaround bridge, put her hazards on, climbed the wall and jumped," Bunting said. There was no evidence of foul play, he said.
Royal Oak, Ferndale and Berkley police worked together to close the Woodward Avenue underpass to traffic while officials retrieved the woman and Pleasant Ridge police investigated.
“Everyone in the tunnel had to turn around and get out,” said Karly Bolton of Clawson.
Bolton was driving southbound on Woodward at 1:35 p.m. and noticed the underpass was closed. She proceeded south on the surface level of Woodward over I-696 and saw a Jeep in the turnaround.
“The engine was still running,” Bolten said. “All the doors were open and the police were searching through it. They were even looking in the trunk. Other police were looking over the rail. It didn’t look good.”
Bolten said people in another vehicle parked behind the Jeep looked like witnesses. Police officers were interviewing them and an ambulance arrived at approximately 1:40 p.m., Bolten said.
The woman's identity was not released.
How unfortunate that this person felt it necessary to include other people in her pain. Hopefully she survives and gets the help she needs. Suicide is never the answer and does much more harm than good.
Well ... nope. Many people were hurt. Her family, herself; suicide is the most selfish, cowardly thing a person can do. Let's also talk about the folks were were late to were ever it was they were going and the consumption of public resources having to deal with her mess. It's a good thing she survived. This way she will be able to work the debt off.
Crap. Crap. Crap. Suicide is what it is: An easy way out and others have to clean up the mess; which is usually very messy.
People have posted "thankfully no one else was hurt" or something along those lines. There are many who were hurt ... first her husband and child, her family and friends and what of the trauma to those that were driving on Woodward at the time who witnessed it, then there are the rescue and police. Many have been "hurt" and affected.
Great show of compassion
Sure I do. You're entitled to your opinion, but not to you're own made up facts. Do some more research on the matter and stop assuming and affirming this type of behavior.
"Instead of trying to memorize all that, you might boil it down to three main policies: “Keep it clean,” “Don’t try to trick people,” and “Treat others as you’d like to be treated.” Easy, right? " I've kept it clean, didn't trick anyone and have treated others as I would like to be treated. The issue is that some people here do not agree; which is their right. However, just because they disagree doesn't mean that I should be censored. Also, I don't post on the Berkley/HW Patch and it's not my fault that other city's "business" gets lumped en mass on the public comment section. This is news just like anything else. I wouldn't think that we would all love to be lock-step. The world is a diverse place. If you want to make it the same then that says more about you than me. Tough topics should be talked about. If anything, there have been more than a few people who have been rude to me and posting ad homiems. I have kept it on topic and have not attacked back. Good luck, Leslie