MAN THREATENS TO JUMP OFF RIVER BRIDGE

Cape Girardeau police closed the Mississippi River bridge for two hours Monday night to talk down a man who threatened to jump off the structure.

Traffic was halted just before 5 p.m., and motorists were delayed or encouraged to seek alternate routes. The bridge reopened at 7 p.m.

Daryll Djemal of McClure, Ill., was just about to cross the bridge when police closed the road. He expected to find his wife, Carol, in traffic farther behind him.

"They didn't tell us why we were stopped," he said, but he quickly learned from all the police activity.

Djemal, a native of England, has only been living in Illinois for a short time but said he had been stopped on the bridge twice already. The other time was several weeks ago when a tractor trailer hauling roof trusses lost its load.

"This stuff happens in England all the time," he said, but added that usually there are quicker alternative routes to take than adding an hour to a trip that usually would take 15 minutes.

The only alternate routes for motorists were to head north to Perryville and cross at Chester, Ill., or to head south to Charleston and cross the bridge at Cairo, Ill.

Several motorists sat with engines off and doors open waiting in the heat. Firefighters and ambulance personnel offered water to people who were waiting in the backup.

Firefighters even hosed down a tractor trailer full of hogs who were near collapse from the heat. The hogs, which don't sweat, were close to heat exhaustion when the truck driver asked for help, officials said.

(Firefighters, police and ambulance crews stayed at the scene talking to the man. "On average it takes about two hours" to convince the person that jumping isn't likely to solve most problems, said Tom Hinkebein, a battalion chief with the fire department.

Officers at the scene said the man had walked onto the bridge from the Missouri side. A passing motorist called 911 to alert authorities that he appeared to ready to jump.

After talking to officers for nearly two hours, the man was brought to the police station and counselors were called in to help, a police spokesperson said. )