Time for suicide barriers on the Arrigoni Bridge

We had another individual jump off the Arrigoni Bridge May 31 as Middletown police officers witnessed the fall. They immediately dispatched for fire and emergency medical technicians. Within minutes of the incident, crews had to hold off their search for severe weather, with wind, rain and lightning. Eventually, fire officials and equipment from two Middletown stations and the Portland station, along with the Middletown police dive team, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, went into the water to search for the individual. After several hours, the search was called off for the night due to dangerous conditions.

That night, crews closed the bridge to all traffic, including foot traffic. Route 9 was shut down for a brief period and the ramp from the highway to the bridge was shut down. Crews working the traffic angle came from Portland, Middletown and the Connecticut State Police.

The investigation is being worked by the Middletown Police Department, Portland police and the Eastern District Major Crime detectives.

What’s my point? In addition to the cost of this human life and the trauma on the rescuers who had to watch this individual take his life, there is an enormous financial cost being born by the taxpayers of Middletown, Portland and the state when an incident like this occurs. By now, the cost of this investigation, the rescue mission and the recovery mission has got to outweigh the cost of installing suicide barriers on the bridge to prevent this from happening.

I don’t know which government agency needs to get this job done, though I suspect it is the state. Install these suicide barriers to reduce the loss of human lives and the cost to taxpayers of needless rescue and recovery missions. It’s time. — Shannon Burkle, Middletown