By TERRY DATE
Democrat Staff Writer

KITTERY, Maine — A New Hampshire man leaped from the Interstate 95 bridge Saturday morning and survived. He is listed in good condition this morning at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.

The 30-year-old Danville man walked to a nearby home in Kittery after the plunge. Police were called and he was transported to the hospital, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday the Coast Guard responded in a 25-foot fast-response boat to a report of a man who had jumped from the bridge on the Kittery side, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Carl Hammond.

After about 25 minutes searching the surface of the Piscataqua River and shore, they received a call from the Maine State Police indicating the man had made it out of the water safely.

When this was subsequently confirmed by Kittery Police, the Coast Guard called off the search.

"This guy was very, very lucky to have survived," said Hammond, who estimated the height at which he jumped as 160 feet.

The water temperature Saturday was 47 degrees, he said.

The man had apparently driven his pickup truck to the crest of the bridge about 25 feet onto the Maine side in the northbound lane before jumping, Hammond said.

He swam to shore and went to a nearby Kittery home. Someone from the home called police.

Hammond said he was told a Maine State trooper was at the scene just before the man jumped.

The trooper saw him, but after the trooper turned his head and looked back the man was gone.

Maine Department of Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said there is only one other instance in his recollection of someone jumping from that bridge and surviving.

No further information was available.



hahah that fucking rules. i wish i could have seen it.

RustedAngel said:

Haha, it must suck to try to commit suicide and fail.

is that what he was trying to do?

commit suicide? fucking asshole...then why swim to shore and go to someone's house?

what a jerk

1) the GS has the second worse currents in this hempisphere.
2) I was enjoying some drink with some of the fellows at the wannamaker back Aug 10th 1999 and some guy did the same thing. there were boats and helicopters all over teplace looking for the body. it was found 90 miles out to see the next day.

i remember someone jumped into the salmon falls river down by the railroad tracks and they were found in the GE water filter.

I smell a new ad campaign coming out...
"not only will it filter out mercury, but how many filters can boast that they filter out human remains. 3M? BASF? I think not."