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Man jumps off Mass. Ave. bridge; body not found despite massive search

Boston and Cambridge divers conduct search. Photo by BFD.Boston and Cambridge divers conduct search. Photo by BFD.

UPDATE: The Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports the victim was 32 and from Boston. "Multiple witness statements suggest that the man who went over the bridge did so intentionally, and foul play is not suggested at this time." His body remains unrecovered.

The Boston Fire Department reports a man jumped into the Charles River around 3:30 a.m. today:

Two men were walking from Cambridge to Boston across the bridge. About halfway across they hailed a cab. One went towards cab. The other jumped the fence into the Charles River.

Stanley Stacos reports the man may have tried to swim out of the river but the current and cold may have proved too much for him.

Divers and firefighters from both Boston and Cambridge rushed to the bridge, which was shut as they searched in the water and from the bridge for the man's body, without success. State Police divers are now continuing the search for the body, in an area full of obstacles such as "rebar, metal and concrete," the department says.

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Comments

the shock of hitting the ice cold water at 3:30AM. Sympathy to the dead man and his family and friends, but finding his body isn't worth another life of a diver. It will eventually float to the surface and float near a bridge piling.

And I wonder how the cab driver feels. I'm sure it didn't exactly make his night. Not to mention the first responders.

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Really? That's what you post? How insensitive and if you didn't know him then why are you even blogging? Go do something productive because you're just insulting.

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A few months ago, my husband and I were riding our bikes under the MIT bridge (heading away from Boston) and we noticed a bunch of police cars on the bridge, with a lot of people looking over it into the water. A couple of dozen feet later, we were surprised to see two white kids in shorts run across our path, jump the fence between us and Storrow drive, run across the street and up a hill. Stopping to puzzle out what the hell we just witnessed, I noticed that the two boys left wet footprints across the bikepath.

In conclusion, I know that this guy who jumped today might have been drunk and the water is certainly much colder now, but there's still a small chance that he made it to shore and wandered away.

Makes you wonder why he was so anxious not to get int hat cab, doesn't it?

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Although I wish no disrespect, I think drunk young guys (I'm willing to bet the jumper was college age-ish)need to stay away from bridges and large bodies of water. This keeps happening.

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Wow.... No disrespect? If you had read the article, you would know that this was a 32 year old, not a drunk college kid. If you are going to post something equally idiotic as insensitive, at least make the effort to read the whole thing. Anyone who knew him could attest for his brilliance, sincerity and kindness. This has been an terrible and perplexing tragedy for his friends and family. While you could use a reality check, I hope you never have to experience what These people are going through.

--I'm sure the world thanks for your ingenious idea of keeping drunk people away from water.

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Prayers and thoughts are with the family as they go through this diffucult time.

As for everyone else posting, please keep your negative comments to yourself. You do not know the situation and of course everyone is going to think of the "what if's" but keep them to yourself. It's not really your business to judge someone you didn't know.

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Since far more people die from suicides or natural selection like this one than bicycle accidents (likely bike+pedestrian), money wasted on bike lane road reductions would be better used putting up 10' high fencing on bridges over and areas along water bodies. Its tens of millions of dollars being spent around Boston that could save more lives with fencing. Sorry about the aesthetics. Loss there or losses to drivers are just the cost of safety! Of course, additional additional anti-suicide efforts are needed to keep cyclists off Storrow Drive, Memorial Drive, and elsewhere!

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Dude - see a psychiatrist. Or talk to the one you are already seeing about your internet activities.

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At the 260 Smoot mark on the upstream side there's a recent memorial to John Gage, with flowers and a picture.

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What news is there about what happened?... the story behind the story?

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