Thursday, May 01, 2008

Don't jump when Navy SEALs are in the water....

From Voice of San Diego. org :

The Survivor
by RANDY DOTINGA

On a March day in 1988, a 26-year-old schizophrenic man found himself in the wrong place at the right time.

He had just jumped from the Coronado Bridge to the water 200 feet below -- a fall that's almost always fatal. But Navy SEALS were conducting a maneuver near the bridge and pulled the man out of the water, saving his life.

"He literally jumped into their arms," recalled the man's sister, San Diego Port Commissioner Laurie Black.

Now, the man -- one of only about a dozen people to survive a leap from the Coronado Bridge -- is married and working for a local hospital. He did try to kill himself after the jump from the bridge, but eventually managed to rejoin society, Black said.

He might not have made it. "He really was pulverized by the impact," said San Diego city medical director Dr. Jim Dunford, who observed the case at the time.

But the man probably landed feet first, reducing the fall's impact. Research suggests that is the best way to survive a fall.

Wrap...

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