Man survives bridge plunge

When a 23-year-old man jumped off the Monroe Street Bridge on Wednesday, it wasn’t a suicide attempt. It was a cry for help, police said.

The man told Spokane Officer Ryan Snider he wanted to be admitted to Eastern State Hospital.

It’s the second time the man has tried to draw public attention to himself. He jumped off the same bridge in January 2006 with the same goal, police said.

His name was not released because he wasn’t arrested. He’s recovering at a local hospital with a broken right shoulder and right leg and a mild case of hypothermia, Snider said.

Keavy Neff was doing construction work near his home in the 1700 block of West Main Avenue about 11:30 a.m. when he heard the man’s cries. Neff’s roommate, Dustin Austin, also heard them.

“We scrambled to figure out where the guy was,” said Neff, 44. They spotted a man floating in the river, the rushing water carrying him downstream. Neff followed the man on his bike, while Austin followed in his car.

“We were looking for a good place to jump in,” Neff said.

Neff, who has been a lifeguard at the YMCA for 11 years, dived in near People’s Park.

“I said ‘Don’t touch me; lay on your back and I’ll pull you in,’ ” Neff recalled. The man said nothing.

As Neff pulled the man in, firefighters tossed them a rope.

“He grabbed it,” Neff said. “I didn’t let go of him. I grabbed it, too.”

He was really weak, Neff said.

Once the man was brought safely ashore, Neff was back on his bike and headed home. He didn’t want to stick around to be credited as a hero.

“The guy was drowning,” Neff said. “I didn’t want him to die.”

Spokane firefighters took over at the bottom of a steep bank, a few hundred yards from the Sandifur Bridge.

A gurney was lowered to the river’s side where the fair-skinned man with strawberry-blond hair, beard and mustache was placed on the rigid-back stretcher. He lay shivering and pale as firefighters and police secured the pulley and rope system to bring him up. An ambulance waited to take him to the hospital.

It took 10 men to pull him up safely.

He muttered a few, barely audible words that no one understood.

Fire officials said they were pleased with how the rescue turned out, and they know more rescues are to come.

“It’s getting to be the time of year when we are going to be helping people out of the river,” said Spokane Fire Battalion Chief Ken Kirsch.

But he advised civilians not to become rescuers, he said.

“Without proper equipment, operating on the river is extremely hazardous and can be fatal,” Kirsch said.