Second person within a week leaps from Luling Bridge

View from northbound I-310 on top of the Hale Boggs Bridge.

The St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that around 9:34 a.m. this morning someone was seen jumping off the Hale Boggs Bridge.

“We had a witness that was traveling southbound on the Hale Boggs Bridge and it happened that quick. Without hesitation the subject just got out of the car and jumped off the bridge,” LaGrange said.

 

Sheriff’s officials said the subject was driving a silver Nissan 300Z before they pulled over to the side of the northbound lane of I-310 and leaped into the Mississippi River below.

 

The bridge was shut down temporarily as emergency units responded to the scene, but was reopened shortly thereafter.

 

The Sheriff’s Office Marine Division is currently searching for the subject’s body although it has yet to be recovered. Officials said based on the car’s registration they have a good idea of who the jumper was.

 

An official identification will not be made until the jumper’s family has been notified.

 

LaGrange said suicides so close to each other are not uncommon at this time of the year, but he added that he has never heard of two people jumping off of the Luling Bridge within only days of each other.

 

“Typically as you get closer to the holiday season you see these things tend to happen. We’ve seen them happen in the past,” LaGrange said.

 

If you or a loved one is thinking of suicide call the Suicide Prevention Resource Center crisis call line at (800) 256-1947.