Man Is Talked Down From Freeway Overpass
An 18-year-old man, distraught over family problems, threatened to jump from an overpass but was brought down to safety after a tense standoff that forced the closure of a stretch of the Long Beach Freeway for nearly two hours Sunday.
The incident began about 5:40 p.m. when South Gate police received a call from a distraught man who threatened to commit suicide by jumping from the Imperial Highway overpass onto the Long Beach Freeway, Lt. Russell Beecher said.
The man told police he was despondent over family problems, refused to come down for about 1 1/2 hours and threatened several times to jump, Beecher said. The California Highway Patrol closed both sides of the freeway at about 6:10 p.m. while 15 officers and firefighters attempted to coax the man down.
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