Man jumps from Monroe Street Bridge, prompting water rescue

A man jumped from the Monroe Street Bridge and survived Tuesday afternoon, apparently plunging into deep water below Spokane Falls before being pulled onto the rocks by a Spokane police officer. Bystanders said the man was standing on the east side of the bridge, and passing drivers stopped to try talking him down. Ignoring their pleas, he climbed onto the railing and jumped, bystanders said. The call came in shortly before 2 p.m. A responding police officer climbed onto the rocks below the falls and threw the man a tether, which he grabbed. The man was pulled to the edge of the rocks and could be seen moving his arms from the bridge. Paramedics laid him on a raft with a neck brace and floated him to a more accessible part of the riverbank under the bridge. He then was loaded onto an ambulance and taken to a local hospital. Some lanes of traffic on the bridge were blocked by emergency vehicles. At least two dozen units responded. Officer Teresa Fuller, police spokeswoman, said the man broke several bones and is expected to survive.