Local News in Brief : Threat to Jump Closes Roadway

A man threatening to commit suicide by leaping off a Hollywood Freeway bridge in downtown Los Angeles forced the closure of the roadway early Tuesday until officers made him jump into an air bag, authorities said.

Clarence Hunter, 54, who had also threatened to set himself on fire, was not hurt in the fall and was arrested after police discovered that he was wanted on a $2,500 battery warrant, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Bill McDaniel said.

Hunter told police that he was a former soldier and was having trouble dealing with the Veterans Administration. “He told us a lot of other things,” McDaniel said.

Hunter climbed to the exposed edge of the Alameda Street overcrossing about 4:15 a.m., putting a chain-link fence between himself and officers, McDaniel said. Traffic was blocked off in both the north and southbound lanes for more than two hours while police tried to coax him from the bridge. Finally, firefighters inflated mattress-sized air bags beneath Hunter and officers loosened his grip on the fence, forcing him to tumble into the filled air bag, McDaniel said.