Cape police grab man threatening to jump off bridge

Cape Girardeau police pulled back a depressed man threatening Tuesday evening to jump off the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

Police received a call about 6:50 p.m. of a man waving his arms wildly on the south side of the bridge, Sgt. Rodney Barker said.

The 43-year-old man, who Barker would not identify, was over the railing and standing on the four-foot overhang when officers arrived, he said. "We talked to him for a while and when he got close enough to the rail, we pulled him back over."

The man, who is a Cape Girardeau resident, was about one-eighth of a mile west of the Illinois state line, Barker said. The incident was over about 35 minutes after officers arrived, he said.

Cape Girardeau firefighters also responded, taking a boat out to the bridge. They had trouble getting out, however, when their boat became caught on a sandbar in low water at the Red Star river access ramp near First Street and North Main Street.