PORT ANGELES — Police on Thursday identified lifelong Clallam County resident Joseph Daniel Henry, 31, as the man who jumped to his death Wednesday afternoon from the westside Eighth Street bridge over the Tumwater Truck Route.
“We have no evidence at this time to suggest it was anything other than a suicide,” Assistant Chief Jason Viada said Thursday.
Clallam County Coroner-Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said Thursday that Henry’s blood would be tested to determine the presence of controlled substances but that there would not be an autopsy.
Henry’s father, Sequim resident Randy Henry, 58, said Thursday his son had schizophrenia.
Joseph had been fighting mental health issues for 10 years.
“It’s tough,” Randy Henry said.
He said Joseph, who grew up in Clallam Bay and attended Clallam Bay High School, had recently been sent home from a rehabilitation center.
Joseph had told his father two weeks ago his departure was due to “a mix-up” in his medications, Randy said.
He said his son did not drink alcohol but had taken drugs, “a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” Randy said.
“I always hoped he would get his life straightened out.”
Randy said his son’s mother lives in Clallam Bay, his uncle lives in Forks and his aunt lives in Port Angeles.
Joseph lived in Port Angeles at Serenity House of Clallam County, according to county Superior Court records.
He was charged Oct. 28, 2016, with residential burglary and first-degree car prowl related to an Oct. 25, 2016, incident.
The charges had a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and $30,000 in fines.
Henry signed a March 23, 2017, pretrial diversion agreement related to the charges.
He was required to undergo treatment and comply with court orders and with conditions set by Mental Health Court.
When Henry’s mother, Judy Brown of Clallam Bay, talked to him while he was at the Pioneer Center North addiction treatment center in Sedro-Woolley, “he said he was great, he was happy,” Henry’s father said.
“He wrote her a letter and put smiley faces on it.”
According to the minutes of a Sept. 22 county Mental Health Court review, a document contained in Superior Court records, Henry was scheduled for a mental health review Oct. 13, nine days after he took his own life.
“[Henry] should be at Pioneer Center North,” according to the minutes for the Sept. 22 hearing.
“[Henry] was released due to not having his medication,” according to the minutes.
“Upon his return, he is going to [Peninsula Behavioral Health].
“He needs to get more medication from PBH.”
A Sept. 20 PBH Client Progress Report said Henry was discharged from Pioneer Center North “due to lack of access to medications for a week.”
The report said Henry “will be attending an outpatient [co-occurring disorders] treatment group while looking for another inpatient treatment option.”
Co-occurring disorders are defined as “the coexistence of both a mental health and a substance use disorder,” according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
At 3:31 p.m. Thursday, less than two weeks after the hearing, the Port Angeles Police Department received multiple 9-1-1 reports of a man who jumped off the south side of the 98-foot-high Eighth Street bridge spanning the truck route.
A woman saw him fall, she told police.
Another woman told police Henry was alive when she got to him, “gasping for air.”
The woman said a nurse who stopped was unable to revive him with CPR, and he died, the police report said.
When they found him, Henry was barefoot, said police, who found his shoes on the bridge.
Another witness told police they saw Henry take off his shoes before he jumped.
Police said in Henry’s possession was an empty Peninsula Behavioral Health pocket calendar, available at the facility seven blocks east of the Tumwater Truck Route bridge.
Officer Luke Brown, a former corrections deputy at the county jail, said Henry “had a history of suicidal thoughts and had been placed on suicide watch on different occasions while incarcerated,” according to the police report.
Henry lived in the Serenity House night-by-night emergency shelter, “where you go when nothing else is available,” Executive Director Doc Robinson said Thursday.
“People are short of housing and can’t find solutions,” Robinson said.
“We’ve seen this kind of separation with kids, families.
“It’s a survival mode, and when they are in survival mode, and when something triggers, they can get the idea there is no future.”
With permanent housing, “then everything works better,” Robinson said.
Two Serenity House staff stayed home from work Thursday with “wish I could have” thoughts over Henry’s death, Robinson said.
“I have to remind them we are basically doormen and doorwomen,” Robinson said.
“We are not that powerful.”
Henry had a tattoo with “Jesus” on one forearm and “Christ” on the other, according to the police report.
“When he was younger, he liked to fish with his friends,” his father said.
Henry’s grandmother, Jerry Finley of Forks, said her grandson was a member of First Baptist Church of Forks and had taught himself to play banjo.
“He came to church with us and played music with us at church,” Finley said. “He had some issues the last few years that he just couldn’t get over.
“We’re doing as good as we can do.”
Henry was the second man in four months to plunge to his death from the Tumwater Creek bridge.
A 49-year-old Port Angeles man leaped from the bridge at about 4 p.m. June 8, authorities said.
Henry was the sixth person since replacement bridges over the Tumwater Truck Route and, three blocks east, the Valley Creek Gorge were installed in 2009.
They lack the 7-foot, 8-inch suicide fences that were attached to their predecessors. In their place are 4-foot, 6-inch railings that protect pedestrians walking across the spans.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
