At approximately 9:30 p.m. on September 10th, ranger Randy Fisher responded to numerous 911 calls of a man apparently intending to jump from the New River Gorge Bridge. Fisher arrived on scene within minutes along with responding Fayetteville City police officers. They found a 23-year-old man from Fayetteville in the middle of the bridge. Fisher and one of the officers began negotiating with him, but they were unable to get closer than 20 feet from the man without him attempting to mount the low guardrail at the edge of the bridge. State troopers shut down both northbound lanes of U.S. 19 crossing the bridge to make it possible for negotiations to continue unhindered by passing high speed traffic. After some time, Fisher was able to talk the man into making a phone call to talk with someone about his situation. Fisher approached to within 10 feet of the man, then placed his cell phone on the pavement and backed away. When the man went to pick up the phone, Fisher and the officer, by prearrangement, charged and tackled the man before he could return to the guardrail. He was charged with disorderly conduct, held in jail overnight on a suicide watch, and taken before a U.S. magistrate the next morning. He was remanded to jail pending a hearing to determine a course of action that would provide him with mental health assistance. Investigators learned that the man had argued with his girlfriend, flung himself from her vehicle while it was traveling down U.S. 19 at about 40 mph, then walked to the bridge to commit suicide. Calm negotiation and decisive action by Fisher and the Fayetteville City officer saved the man’s life. The New River Gorge Bridge, 876 feet above the New River, has been the scene of many suicides over the years.
