Lawmakers, advocates call for suicide barriers
Lorraine Lein brought her grief and anger, and an urn with her son’s ashes.
She replayed June 30, 2023, for members of the New York State Bridge Authority (NYSBA) board: driving her son, Jake Simmons, 17 years old and distraught over problems with his girlfriend, to Bear Mountain State Park for a mood-elevating hike; Jake fleeing after they arrived; police cars speeding to the Bear Mountain Bridge; Lein begging an officer blocking her path to grant access to where Jake had jumped.
“A policeman standing next to me said, ‘Let her see’ and I saw him floating in the water,” Lein told the board Feb. 15. “I fell to my knees, screaming: ‘No, Jake! What did you do? What did you do?’ ”
Simmons’ leap to his death is the kind of act that Lein and an increasingly frustrated chorus of surviving families and Hudson Valley lawmakers want to prevent on the Bear Mountain and Newburgh-Beacon bridges, and the three other spans that NYSBA oversees: the Kingston-Rhinecliff, Mid-Hudson and Rip Van Winkle bridges.
For years, NYSBA has been pressed to install suicide-deterrent fencing on those bridges. But the independent agency, which is funded primarily through tolls, has instead prioritized training employees working at the spans and relying on cameras and call boxes for emergencies.
On Tuesday (June 4), the state Senate passed legislation authored by Sen. Pete Harckham requiring that NYSBA install “climb-deterrent” fencing on its five bridges. Passage by the state Assembly and enactment by Gov. Kathy Hochul are needed for the legislation, which would take effect in three years, to become law.
Five days earlier, Harckham, whose district includes eastern Putnam County, described NYSBA’s bridges as a “magnet for those looking to end their lives” in a letter signed by him and other state legislators, including Dana Levenberg, whose Assembly district includes Philipstown. Levenberg is also a co-sponsor of the legislation.
More than 100 people have used the spans to kill themselves since 2007, and there have been an additional 43 attempts that were interrupted, said Harckham.
Recent fatalities include a 49-year-old Beekman woman who jumped from the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge on Nov. 14, her birthday, and a 49-year-old New Jersey man who leaped from the Bear Mountain Bridge on Jan. 11. A man who died after jumping from the Bear Mountain Bridge on May 17 was among four suicide attempts and two fatalities on NYSBA bridges last month, said Harckham.
Those attempts “attest to a heartbreaking problem,” he said. “We have given the New York State Bridge Authority ample opportunity to address this issue on its own, but we simply can’t wait any longer.”
Editor’s Notebook: Surviving Bear Mountain
A consultant hired to study fencing on NYSBA’s bridges told the agency’s board in April 2022 that costs for the five spans would range from $10.5 million for chain-link barriers to $45.5 million for mesh, $63 million for horizontal wire and $85 million for picket fencing.
The NYSBA operates entirely on tolls collected at its bridges. In May 2023, the agency implemented the last phase of a four-year incremental increase in fees to pay for capital projects such as the $95 million re-decking of the north span of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, completed in 2022.
NYSBA said in a statement on Tuesday that it is “actively evaluating deterrent fencing options” and has issued, for the Bear Mountain Bridge, a request for proposals for a re-decking design that includes “an evaluation of suicide-deterrent fencing.” The project has been accelerated by a year, said NYSBA.
“NYSBA is committed to zero fatalities in our bridges,” said the agency. “Our staff works tirelessly to protect all of our patrons, working hand-in-glove with our partners and local first responders to keep New Yorkers safe.”
A Mother’s Fight for Bridge Barriers (Video)
Several employees received recognition during the board’s May 22 meeting for recognizing and assisting someone in distress on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge on April 30, as did an employee who “engaged with” a person in distress on the Mid-Hudson Bridge on April 18 until police arrived.
Maria Idoni, the Hudson Valley/Westchester area director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said the organization trains NYSBA employees how to respond when they recognize a potential jumper. Asked if training is sufficient, she responded succinctly.
“Absolutely not,” said Idoni. “Until they put up physical safety nets, we try to provide them with enough resources. But the bottom line is — they know it, we know it — they need fencing.”
In distress? The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours a day by calling or texting 988.
There are a million places where you can jump if you want to kill yourself, including your own rooftop. There are also a million ways to kill yourself without making it society’s fault. Do your family a favor and don’t make a mess that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives.