PORT ANGELES — A 20-year-old Port Angeles woman jumped to her death off the west Eighth Street bridge Tuesday night, city police said.
The Clallam County Coroner’s Office identified her as Lisa Marie Bash.
The suicide was reported by a motorist at 9:25 p.m.
Police Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck said the woman jumped off the south side of the bridge, and her body was found in a ditch on the west side of Tumwater Truck Route.
By Wednesday morning, a pink card and flowers had been placed on the 4-foot, 6-inch railing where Bash jumped. She fell approximately 100 feet to the Tumwater Creek gorge.
Police Sgt. Barb McFall said a passing motorist ran down, to find Bash dead.
“Somebody on the bridge called 9-1-1 to tell us that somebody had jumped,” Roggenbuck added.
“The initial 9-1-1 call came from a citizen who witnessed it up on the bridge while driving.”
Earlier Tuesday, Roggenbuck said he was called to a separate suicide threat at “almost the same exact place” where Bash jumped on the west Eighth Street bridge.
A man had climbed over the railing at about 9:45 a.m. but climbed back to safety when Roggenbuck arrived.
“I don’t believe there was any relationship,” Roggenbuck said of the man he contacted and Bash.
Police occasionally receive suicide threats originating from the Eighth Street bridges.
Roggenbuck said the last person to jump to their death did so “within the last three years.”
The two new bridges opened in February 2009.
The former bridges, built in 1936, had 4-foot, 2-inch fences spanning their lengths.
In 1959, the city added 7-foot, 8-inch fences on the middle parts of the spans.
Two months after the new bridges opened, 19-year-old Joshua Reynolds jumped to his death from the east Eighth Street bridge over Valley Creek.
The parents of the victim told the Peninsula Daily News at the time that a higher fence might have saved their son’s life.
In June 2009, then-City Councilwoman Cherie Kidd, who is now mayor, asked the council to discuss the possibility of raising the height of the bridge barriers and solicited citizen input.
It never came to a vote of the council.
“I received lots of correspondence,” Kidd recalled.
“It was pretty much 50 percent for and 50 percent against.”
Kidd said it was far too premature to discuss whether the current council would reconsider raising the height of the railing.
She added that bridges aren’t the only place where suicides occur.
“It’s always a tragedy when someone chooses to end their life,” Kidd said.
“It’s very sad to hear that. I’m very sorry for the family.”
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
