Sad events last Sunday

[Heliman]

Last Sunday I was heading to the Oregon Arms Collectors gun show in Portland. At 6:00 AM on a Sunday it is usually a 10 minute drive from my home to the armory. About 3 miles from my place traffic suddenly started backing up on the interstate and was reduced to a slow crawl. All three lanes were affected. As traffic slowly crept forward I got my first look of the first responders including fire, state patrol, and police. As I approached the scene, traffic was diverted to the emergency lane on the left side of the freeway. When I got to the fire trucks I noticed a shoe in the center lane and as I cleared the fire truck I saw a body covered by a small yellow tarp. I looked around the scene and did not see a damaged vehicle or motor cycle.

After finally arriving at the show I asked a few other guys if they saw the accident and all were curious what had happened. I thought that when I got home and watched the evening news I would see coverage of this tragedy. Nothing..... The next morning I thought there would be something in the paper.......nothing.

That afternoon I sent an email to the local news paper and one of the local tv stations asking why there was no coverage of this event. After all, there was a mile long back up leading to the scene and a lot of first responders blocking the entire freeway.

The tv station did not respond. The paper did.....

"Hi David,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We checked in with a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman, who confirmed that this was a suicide. The Columbian does not regularly report suicides.

Thank you again,

Jack *********"

I was confused at the response since I hear of suicides being reported all the time.
To me this was a sad event. Probably a homeless person who had reached the point in his life that despair took over leading to his decision to jump from the over pass.

I typically have little compassion for most of the homeless as it is their choice due to mental illness and other similar issues, but this one seemed to bother me in that no one cared and he wasn't worthy of a mention in the media....... Maybe I am wrong, but I was still somewhat saddened by this event.

Dave

 

[blackhawknj]

Not sure why it is the fire department deciding it is a suicide.
And when you have people who either can not or will not live by society's rules, who, to quote my mother
"can't spend more than ten seconds a day thinking about anybody but themselves."-why should anybody else care about them ?

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

A couple of months ago I was in a similar "backup" that ended with a scene eerily like yours, Dave. It turned out to be a jumper, from the interchange flyover above the scene. It took several days before I could find out anything about the incident. When there finally was some coverage, what we saw made it sound like a "regular" guy who just couldn't take it any longer, whatever "it" was.

Several years ago, the news choppers caught another suicide on camera, broadcast live. This time by a guy on a bridge with a shotgun, which he used on himself. The negative feedback from the public was tremendous. The local TV stations started putting such events on delay so they wouldn't be shown to the public. Perhaps this mentality has spread to other types of coverage involving similar circumstances?

Rick C

 

[muzzleloader]

Sounds like a good policy for "mass" shooters. Report the facts, but make these losers anonymous. And I think homelessness that is associated with mental illness is not really a choice. There should be better access to care and families are often helpless in getting their loved ones help. just my $.02