Police officers, Taser gun can't stop man from jumping off Brooklyn Bridge

By LARRY CELONA and KIRSTEN FLEMING

Last Updated: 8:34 AM, May 20, 2010
Posted: 2:11 AM, May 20, 2010

Four cops and a Taser gun couldn't take down a deranged civil servant who was hellbent on jumping from the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday -- and got his wish.

The tragic leaper fought off the three police officers and a lieutenant smack in the middle of traffic on the span's busy roadway at about 10:30 a.m. He then took advantage of a Taser misfire to plummet to his presumed death in the East River.

His body had yet to surface last night, although NYPD divers and a Harbor Unit team continued to search .

The Brooklyn DA's Office was investigating how the four cops handled the incident, and told the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau not to interview them until the DA's probers were done, sources said.

The drama began when a woman found the unidentified 29-year-old man masturbating in the seventh-floor ladies' room at 151 West Broadway, where he worked for the state's Department of Social Services, sources said.

The frightened woman called police, but the man fled.

About an hour later, a flurry of 911 callers said the emotionally disturbed man was walking in traffic on the bridge.

He was soon met by officers from the 84th Precinct.

The cops wrestled the man to try to get him in handcuffs, but he fought them all off.

Spanish tourist Begona Lopez Txaramunto captured the startling struggle in a series of photos obtained by The Post.

A lieutenant arrived and told the cops to back away as he prepared to subdue the man with the stun gun, sources said.

It didn't go off, and the man climbed onto the exterior of the bridge, where he stripped naked.

Cops from the Emergency Service Unit tried to talk him down, but he jumped from the span 122 feet above the East River.

The man's father told cops he had a history of mental illness, sources said.

The NYPD is investigating why the Taser didn't work, a department spokesman said.

From: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/cops_lose_grip_in_bridge_death_leap_AK3oveb5ukhyJbkQCZBnbL