PORT ANGELES — A 16-year-old girl stayed alive this week at least in part because one woman stopped her car in the middle of a busy city bridge and talked with her, according to Port Angeles police.
Tammy Gregory, 44, of Port Angeles was driving east on Eighth Street just after 9:45 a.m. Monday on her way to an appointment.
As she crossed the Tumwater Truck Route bridge, she noticed a young woman at the railing looking over the edge to the valley below.
“She was standing with her hands on the railing looking down,” Gregory said.
Something in the girl’s demeanor, and the way her backpack was carelessly dropped on the sidewalk nearby, gave Gregory a feeling something was very wrong.
“She looked really nervous,” Gregory said.
“She was young. She looked like she should have been in school. And she was dead center in the middle of the bridge.”
Gregory continued driving at first, then stopped her car on the side of the road just beyond the bridge and at 9:49 a.m. called 9-1-1.
She said she watched the girl from a distance and became more and more concerned by the girl’s body language.
She thought she should hear sirens and didn’t for what seemed like a long time to her, although police arrived four minutes after the emergency call.
“I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t have lived with myself if she had jumped,” Gregory said.
She said Port Angeles has had too many suicides in the past few years.
A 76-year-old woman leaped from that same bridge in March, and a 21-year-old woman fell to her death from the nearby Valley Creek Bridge last October.
In all, police report four deaths by suicide from the Eighth Street bridges since they reopened in 2009.
The wide, modern bridges lacked the high barriers that were a refit feature on the 1936 bridges they replaced.
In addition to the deaths, there have been 23 reports of possible suicidal individuals at or within a block of the bridges since the spans were built, according to police records.
In the wake of the two recent deaths, Port Angeles residents called for higher barriers to be placed on the sides of the Eighth Street bridges or safety nets to catch those who attempt to jump.
The City Council placed signs at either end of the bridge with phone numbers for mental health treatment.
On April 21, urged by Councilwoman Cherie Kidd, the council approved an effort to seek grant funding to construct barriers.
Gregory waited for what she said felt like a long time but heard no sirens.
“I drove to where she was and parked my car,” she said.
The car blocked the busy traffic, which slowed and went around on the wide two-lane bridge.
“I didn’t care about that at that point,” Gregory said.
The girl was wearing a pink sweatshirt, the same color as Gregory’s. It was something she had in common with the girl, and she grabbed onto that.
“I said, “Hi, sweetie, is pink your favorite color like it is mine?’ She looked like she was on the verge of tears,” Gregory said.
When Gregory got close enough, she grabbed the girl into a hug.
“She started bawling, which started me bawling.”
They began talking.
The girl had recently gone through romantic heartbreak, she said.
Gregory could identify with that.
“Honey, if I had a dollar for every time a man did that to me, I would have a tank of gas,” Gregory told the girl.
On Tuesday, Gregory said she had been through depression and knew people with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses.
She said it’s difficult for people with mental health problems to be taken seriously because they have an invisible disability.
“It affects millions and millions of people,” she said.
At 9:53 a.m., four Port Angeles police officers arrived.
They included two with at least eight hours of crisis training, one with 40 hours of crisis training and one with more than 70 hours of crisis and crisis negotiation training, said Deputy Chief Brian Smith.
Officers took the girl aside for an interview.
“She was upset and made statements indicating she might harm herself. She was taken to the hospital,” Smith said.
“[Gregory’s] involvement was very noteworthy,” Smith said of the good Samaritan’s actions.
In addition to Gregory’s call, the department took a second call within a minute.
People are becoming more aware and are calling if they see something of concern, Smith said.
He added that lights and sirens are turned off as officers approach the bridge to avoid startling or scaring someone who might be considering suicide.
In this case, everything went right, including having a person who cared stop to help and the entire shift of uniformed officers being available to respond.
Once the girl was safely in police custody, Gregory broke down.
“I started crying. I was shaking. I had a horrid headache all day and I felt like I was going to throw up,” she said.
She looked over the railing where the girl had been standing.
“You could see the memorial [for one of those who died at the bridge] directly below,” Gregory said.
Later that day, she began to get inquiries from friends who saw her on the bridge.
“They asked, ‘Was that you on the bridge?’” she said.
“Yes,” she responded.
That was when she had a moment of clarity.
Dozens, if not hundreds of cars had driven by, carefully avoiding her car, she noted. Among them were people who knew her, who recognized her.
And they kept going.
“I understand why people want nets and guards and fences. But that is not what we need. People need to be more aware,” she said.
Gregory was late for her appointment.
“It was worth it,” she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
