There's a guy outside my window who's been threatening to jump all night!

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my wife woke me up this morning. it's currently 9.39am she thought that some people had been screaming all night (starting around 2am). she said she heard "HELP!" a lot. i questioned why she never woke up to find out who it was that needed help. i totally slept through all of it.

anyways, there's a guy dangling from the ledge of a 2-3 story building directly across from my window and there are tons of police officers and firemen trying to console him and try to get him to come down. he looks like he might be homeless and by his eratic actions he might be hopped up on some sort of drug (or he's just freaked in the head because he's been threatening to jump for 7hrs now)

http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/1.jpg

http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/2.jpg

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 17:46 (twenty years ago) link

Dude! What's he gonna do, break a shinbone?

― TOMBOT, Friday, 5 December 2003 17:53 (twenty years ago) link

777

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 December 2003 17:54 (twenty years ago) link

well he has his coffee.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:01 (twenty years ago) link

and who knew martha stewart now did suicide negotiations. she does everything!

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:05 (twenty years ago) link

and that aero bed looks mighty cozy.

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:07 (twenty years ago) link

it also looks like that cop in the middle is really concerned. "hmmm is that dog shit on the bottom of my shoe."

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

it might make traffic on van ness flow a little better.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:09 (twenty years ago) link

I think he might just want an iPod.

― bnw (bnw), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

and naked pictures of Bea Arthur

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:12 (twenty years ago) link

I'm fairly certain the rolls of white paper they've laid down on the concrete will soften the landing to a large degree.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:29 (twenty years ago) link

They're 'absorbent'.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:30 (twenty years ago) link

god forbid he should see some change on the sidewalk from up there.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:30 (twenty years ago) link

They should set him on fire.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:34 (twenty years ago) link

If that young man had a decent job, he'd have no time for horseplay on rooftops.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:37 (twenty years ago) link

What does MEEEK mean? Who's this mysterious graffiti tagger?

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:39 (twenty years ago) link

the meeek shall inherit the earrrth

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:39 (twenty years ago) link

I've fallen almost that far.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:42 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, the homeless are tuff.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:43 (twenty years ago) link

I like his shoes. Very white and clean.

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:44 (twenty years ago) link

*poseur*

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:46 (twenty years ago) link

if you'll notice in the top left of the first picture, there's a tag by a guy called VEGAN. only in san fucking francisco

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:54 (twenty years ago) link

I like the doors in the sidewalk in the bottom right.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:56 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, I've dropped off the side of a building from like 2.5 stories up a couple of times and all I wound up with were a sprained foot and a broken nose. You would really have to just dive into it from that height, I think. They should just push him into the mattresses and call it a day.

― TOMBOT, Friday, 5 December 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

the Meeek vs. the Vegans: Tonight, Tonight...

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

is he still there? if so, are you able to update it with a new picture? you're probably at work ...

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 18:59 (twenty years ago) link

Rumble!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:01 (twenty years ago) link

that's so weird. I went to school w/ a girl called megan veeek.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:04 (twenty years ago) link

wow -real live ilx dirty harry!

― kephm, Friday, 5 December 2003 19:10 (twenty years ago) link

unfortunately i'm not at work because i'm about to get laid off of my brand new 2month old job. told me to take the day off while they figure out things.

so it's 11.15, he's still here.

this is his threatening pose. if people come too close he dangles a little bit
http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/6.jpg

he looks pretty freaked
http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/4.jpg

he told everybody to leave him alone and he laid down.
http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/3.jpg

finally i think they're just getting sick of waiting so they pulled out the big guns.
http://www.art-ificial.com/jump/5.jpg

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:23 (twenty years ago) link

I think jumping into that horrible car would be more painful in so many ways than jumping onto those mattresses.

― Allyzay, Friday, 5 December 2003 19:25 (twenty years ago) link

they should get the k-9 unit onto the roof

― kephm, Friday, 5 December 2003 19:26 (twenty years ago) link

a) he looks like an easily-lassoed suspect

b) if they coated the ground in soap or hope, he'd never jump

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:26 (twenty years ago) link

he looks pretty freaked

That picture should be the cover of a Kool Keith project or something.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:27 (twenty years ago) link

If he jumps on that dude with the baseball cap, they have no one to blame but themselves. And hstencil.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:27 (twenty years ago) link

Also: http://www.myprops.co.uk/images/replica-sml/k9.gif

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:27 (twenty years ago) link

you should try to sell those photos, esp. if you're about to be laid off.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:28 (twenty years ago) link

i was thinking of selling them. who would i sell them too? local newspapers? what do i say?

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

well, i just sold some of those to the chronicle. so, i guess that's out :)

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:31 (twenty years ago) link

12 hours for the cops to figure a laddertruck may be a help ! genius.
if he jumps will you look away?

― kephm, Friday, 5 December 2003 19:32 (twenty years ago) link

haha. ass

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:32 (twenty years ago) link

that ass was directed at dean

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:32 (twenty years ago) link

you know how i likes it bud

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:34 (twenty years ago) link

i think your best bet is to shoot this guy, so that will make it was front page story and then your photos will be totally k-valueable

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:34 (twenty years ago) link

If you sell those pix you'll be rolling in it!

http://www.gamers.com/i/pics/288810_t.jpg

― Gear! (Gear!), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:43 (twenty years ago) link

That guy would be worth about 500 points in Grand Theft Auto.

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:45 (twenty years ago) link

i don't really play games so that's not so much of a concern to me, but thanks

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:45 (twenty years ago) link

well, not to poop on yr parade, but the fact that you've posted them here has diminished their value. but yeah try local papers first.
tabloids might buy too.
some papers have a policy against publishing suicide attempt photos for fear of creating the impression that it's an easy way to get publicity/attention.
but ask for the managing or deputy editor.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

i'm much more interested in whether these photos will be bought than the actual outcome of jumper. is this wrong?

― mark cunningham (robotsinlove), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:56 (twenty years ago) link

a friend has suggested that i put my speakers out the window and blast Van Halen's "Jump" or kriss kross or house of pain or 'another one bites the dust'

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 5 December 2003 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 127 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

what city is this?

― Aaron A., Sunday, 7 December 2003 23:43 (twenty years ago) link

love memepool as I do, that'd be a pretty fragile glass house.

― bnw (bnw), Sunday, 7 December 2003 23:47 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not very good at off-fucking

― nate detritus (natedetritus), Monday, 8 December 2003 00:18 (twenty years ago) link

what city is this?

San Francisco

― JaXoN (JasonD), Monday, 8 December 2003 00:32 (twenty years ago) link

This is one of the most interesting threads that has ever been on ILX. It was odd to come into it after it had all happened, seeing red X's instead of photos that you were all laughing over, and wondering what had happened.

Someone jumped/fell/or was pushed from a building across the road from us last week. When we came back from Wiltshire, our road was all blocked off. HSA's mum parked while he ran off to see what was up. He came back visibly shaken, saying there was a dead body in the middle of the road, and the neighbours said that someone had committed suicide. The next day, the police came round knocking on doors and asking on the street if anyone had seen anything, thinking that it might not have been suicide.

There's still a giant police sign outside our house asking for information saying "UNEXPLAINED DEATH" or something like that.

But, regardless, this has been an interesting thread, both in the reactions of people before the jump, and the reactions of others afterwards.

― THAT Kate (kate), Monday, 8 December 2003 09:53 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, and really, how many people were sanctimonious afterwards? My own post was maybe a heavy-handed attempt to make those who had been flippant/humorous earlier feel better once we'd learned the guy had jumped, that there's nothing monstrous about using humour in a traumatic event. And then, others who came late... how could they be blamed for feeling a little nauseated by the apparent indifference and levity (note word "apparent") shown by earlier posters?

I agree with Kate above -- this is interesting, from an "internet community" perspective (apologies for how sociological/silly that sounds), but it also seems important to acknowledge the personal tragedy aspect, too. I feel really fucking sorry for this dude. and no-one should feel bad unless they had malice in their hearts -- something only the individual posters can know.

I don't know if I'm making sense. Help.

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:13 (twenty years ago) link

as he picked up his shotgun a second time, the on-air anchor repeatedly admonished the chopper crew to keep the zoom out at a 'safe' distance (i don't know what word to use instead of safe; 'respectable'?)

I remember vividly when this happened and there were differences between how network/local channel chose to cover it depending on how close their helicopter crews were. Most stations either zoomed out or cut to an in-studio shot once the guy pointed the gun at himself. A couple stations did nothing, and yet another (Telemundo) actually zoomed in.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Monday, 8 December 2003 10:43 (twenty years ago) link

The reaction to this thread needs a new thread. This thread is important, and I'm not sure why. I'd start the thread myself, but I'm not sure what to say. Except that it IS important.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:41 (twenty years ago) link

I'm with Kate here - I've only just read this thread and it *is* one of the most thought-provoking things I've ever seen on this board. It's kind of creepy to think that whoever this bloke is, and everyone connected with him, could have no idea whatsoever that his suicide attempt was documented on the Net in real time. A line of some sort has been crossed here with regard to the way the Internet and Real Life intersect - far more than the 9/11 threads or the first few days of the Iraq war.

Without being sanctimonious or wanting to condemn anyone, I do wonder if anyone WILL put their hands up and admit to being entertained by the first few posts and the strange voyeurism involved.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:41 (twenty years ago) link

all the people who posted at the time presumably?

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:43 (twenty years ago) link

What's weirdest of all about reading this thread now is that all the real photos have been removed, and the only thing left are the joke photos. It's bizarre to read it without the photos.

― THAT Kate (kate), Monday, 8 December 2003 15:44 (twenty years ago) link

this IS the most thought provoking "x" ive sene on the net.
thepolice (and how they did not handle this very well)& jaXOns point-of-view-flux kept me reading the thread

― kephm, Monday, 8 December 2003 15:50 (twenty years ago) link

(when i asked JaXon if he would watch if the man jumped, it was not for a laugh, i wanted to get more into his head)
i have to say, i do not think my perspective was one that many other posters (early on) shared

― kephm, Monday, 8 December 2003 15:53 (twenty years ago) link

I wouldn't have joked as I did had I not personally fallen similar distances myself on more than one occasion.

it was rather silly that he was threatening to jump from 2 stories high. this is where most of the humor started from. it's as if someone said, "i'm going to kill myself by slicing my wrists with this here piece of brocoli"

OTM

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:04 (twenty years ago) link

Equally - with regard to the condemnation upthread - why DOES anyone on this thread with the exception of JaXon have to care about whether someone they have never met lives or dies? Especially as they are only given a window into this even through someone else they have (probably) never met and whose only connection with this person is being at a certain place at a certain time? What makes this man any different to the thousands of other people dying around the world on any given day of all sorts of things? Because we can see him?

Nick - that's not OTM. I am sure it is perfectly possible to kill oneself by falling two storeys onto your head.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:07 (twenty years ago) link

I just thought it was a movie.

― may pang (maypang), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:11 (twenty years ago) link

That's what I'm saying. I wrote a HUGE big entry this morning, and then deleted it, 'cause it made me sound stupider than I am, but the gist of it had to do with honesty. I have to say, I was giggling along with the posts. Not out of any straneg voyerism (I honestly don't think that was involved), but it was all 'just a bit of fun' until the chap decided to go. Then the emotional turn-around was immense, and personally I felt really shitty very quickly.

Matt DC, yes, he IS different because we can see him. I dunno abotu anyone else, but I certainly felt different. Mind you, I think its the personal reaction to one's own emotional response that talks to me the most, rather than anythign else that went on.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:11 (twenty years ago) link

it didnt seem that way at the time though. like, i think maybe we were thinking of falling two storeys, in which case you will land a certain way, and probably come out not too bad, rather than thinking of jumping with intent two storeys, in which case you will aim head first and the outcome is likely to be vastly different

― charltonlido (gareth), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:13 (twenty years ago) link

Also, Nza, wtf have you been falling 2 storeys several times for??

― Markelby (Mark C), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:16 (twenty years ago) link

the ile "f*ckyou!" thread was far more disturbing.

― kephm, Monday, 8 December 2003 16:21 (twenty years ago) link

kephm, link please.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:22 (twenty years ago) link

That made me sound like a really sick guy, didn't it?

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:23 (twenty years ago) link

― kephm, Monday, 8 December 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

I've fallen from the roof of a 2 story house onto concrete (I sprained the fuck out of my ankle but broke no bones), I was dumbassedly shimmying up a narrow alley between two 3 story buildings and fell when I was almost to the top & fractured several bones in my hand, once I fell off a radio tower and landed on my back (somehow only knocked the wind out of myself that time), and I've fallen from a approximately 50 foot cliff and not broken anything (granted, that time I had fallen on soil and not concrete).

And honestly I didnae take into account the falling-off-and-landing-ON-YOUR-HEAD aspect, or the intent-to-jump factor. I've been lucky enough to land on my feet for the most part, and all of my mishaps so far have been accidents. So I'm just gonna back away from this conversation with my hands in the air.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 8 December 2003 16:31 (twenty years ago) link

nickalicious, you just made me wonder about something (aside from giggling at your accident-proneness): is it even possible to land on your head if you do a swan dive off of a roof? I mean, isn't there a reflex (similar to the blink reflex) that would make you put your hands out to cushion the fall -- even if you'd jumped on purpose (like Eminem flinching in the video to "The way I Am" just as the ground rushes up to meet him)?* I got bounced about 15 feet off a trampoline once (yes, I'm an idiot) and I landed face first, but I cushioned the fall with outstretched arms (I split the ends of both radius bones. See? Idiot, right?).

*Yeah, I know that's fiction, but I imagine this would happen.

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:38 (twenty years ago) link

If it makes the initial posters feel any better, I found the prelapsarian bits of the thread kinda funny, in that "not posting it to excelsior, but funny enough to click back when there are new messages" way, and I don't find them any less funny now.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:44 (twenty years ago) link

See, I think I found a few of the comments funny at the time, but I differ from you in that I don't find them funny now. Is that weirdly hypocritical?

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 8 December 2003 19:54 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe. Well, maybe to both the "weirdly" and the "hypocritical" :) I don't know what your reasons are.

The tone of the thread itself is different now, so that could kill the funny for you, and there's nothing hypocritical about that, really.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 8 December 2003 20:06 (twenty years ago) link

I should add that I don't judge the people who made those "funny" comments, though. I don't like self righteousness as a character trait (he says, self-righteously, d'oh!). But yeah, the tone, and just that he actually did jump. Both killed the funny. (But, really, it has to be more the latter than just the tone.)

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 8 December 2003 20:23 (twenty years ago) link

hey everybody, it's sad that this guy is sick and he jumped, but he JUST BROKE HIS LEG

please stop thinking he's dead

― JaXoN (JasonD), Monday, 8 December 2003 20:49 (twenty years ago) link

See, that's one reason it's still funny, that's exactly what Tom said he'd do!

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 8 December 2003 21:01 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, looks at all the pain this jerk has caused by not dying.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 8 December 2003 21:07 (twenty years ago) link

despite all the ILX concern and Ja><0n's internet play by play, this never made the local news.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 8 December 2003 21:07 (twenty years ago) link

well, i think sf bums have to try much harder.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 8 December 2003 21:10 (twenty years ago) link

that's the big league, man. this isn't albuquerque.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 8 December 2003 21:10 (twenty years ago) link

I read this thread for the first time almost immediately post-jump. It was kind of funny until the photo of the man standing up and hugging himself, with one of the most wierdly vacant and frightening expressions on his face that I've ever seen. I kept reading the thread but that was the point when I thought "this may not turn out well". It wasn't really funny anymore after seeing him up close.

― webcrack (music=crack), Monday, 8 December 2003 23:15 (twenty years ago) link

Thats more why I felt a bit off about this right from the start (and no, I'm not being self righteous, if others thought it was funny good on 'em). I found myself thinking though: "why is this funny because its one storey up and hes a silly supposedly homeless man? Look at his face, he looks pretty disturbed and scared".

If the person on the roof had been a famous singer y'all love, and it looked like something was amiss with them to be on that roof, would you still have made stupid cracks about it?

(NB: person on roof being Marissa Mentalist does not count in my hypothetical here ;P)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 00:25 (twenty years ago) link

If it had been Michael Jackson, I might have exploded.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:54 (twenty years ago) link

With LOVE

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 03:56 (twenty years ago) link

weirdly vacant and frightening expressions

After the jump that was what stuck in my mind, I actually went back to look at it. You try to interpret it. Is that the abyss staring back, or is it a belly full of booze?

― Hunter (Hunter), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 04:08 (twenty years ago) link

Think if his family members or friends stumble across this thread.
-- A Nairn (moreta...), December 6th, 2003.

or HIM.
-- nate detritus (n***p*****550...), December 6th, 2003.

Classic one-two punch of this whole thread. Real Abbott-Costello type shit. Genius. I'm sure the reason he was on that roof was because his iMac was on the fritz. Wocka wocka.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 04:52 (twenty years ago) link

Jumpers never make the news. Our mysterious half-nude jumper didn't make the local news. He got about 5 lines in the Camden New Journal, mainly because they were asking for information, cause I don't think they could figure out who he was.

― THAT Kate (kate), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 09:08 (twenty years ago) link

Okay I'm a latecomer to this thread but whenever I hear anything about people falling from buildings I always have to check to see how high it was because I'm competitive. My fall was four stories, muthafucka! Take that! etc. It also did not make the news. But then again I wasn't a jumper, I just fell.
That said, I came out of it with a broken back and leg broken in two places and am pretty much fine. This is after spending the better part of a year in a wheelchair learning to walk again. I found this thread to be pretty funny, but then again as I was lying on the ground in pain I was cracking (lame) jokes about how it looks really easy when Catwoman bounces off buildings, etc.

Black humor is a necessary part of coping with life. You laugh to keep from crying. It doesn't make you insensitive or inhumane or a shit in general. It's not like anyone here was on the street itself laughing and pointing and throwing rocks at him.

― Catty (Catty), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 12:30 (twenty years ago) link

five years pass...

there's someone across my (new) house threatening to jump again.

firetrucks have blocked off the whole street. i even saw a cop w/a shotgun!

― (jaxon) ( .) ( .) (jaxon), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 01:12 (fourteen years ago) link

There's a guy outside my window who's been threatening to jump all night!

wouldn't he get tired?

― totally dude (Curt1s Stephens), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 01:48 (fourteen years ago) link

I rewatched Best in Show on Sunday and I forgot the guy whose job was talking people down from suicides. "They always jump." Later his son's on the roof & he's yelling things at the kid like "I will shove my thumb in your eyeball until it's jelly!" OH MY GOD the laughs.

― test drives at ur own risk i cant go with you too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 03:53 (fourteen years ago) link

Jumpers never make the news.

I think these things aren't usually published to prevent copycat suicides, which are a sad but true thing.

― test drives at ur own risk i cant go with you too many bees (Abbott), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 03:54 (fourteen years ago) link

There was a guy in Manchester (UK) quite a few years ago on top of department store threatening to jump. The crowds were treating it like a day out, shouting jump and laughing. Quite a bizarre moment really 1st time you see it.

jaxon, maybe it’s a sign, maybe you have to dedicate your life to save jumpers?

― not_goodwin, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 07:50 (fourteen years ago) link

i even saw a cop w/a shotgun!

What's the thinking there? Don't jump or we'll shoot?

― Ned Trifle II, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link

That's the plot of an episode of Sledgehammer!, isn't it?

― dada wouldn't buy me a bauhaus (aldo), Wednesday, 13 May 2009 08:48 (fourteen years ago) link

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