Yale student jumps from the Empire State Building

[malaise]

Too sad.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/31/2010-03-31_man_who_leaped_to_death_from_empire_state_building_idd_as_yale_university_studen.html
<snip>
The Yale college student who plunged off the Empire State Building planned the desperate act in advance, cop sources said.

The NYPD and Yale University identified Cameron Dabaghi, a 21-year-old junior from Austin, Texas, as the man who jumped to his death Tuesday night from the Empire State Building's 86th floor observation deck.

Dabaghi left a suicide note in his dorm room in New Haven, Conn., a police source said Wednesday.

He apologized for turning to suicide and wrote he planned to jump from either the George Washington Bridge or the Empire State.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/03/31/2010-03-31_man_who_leaped_to_death_from_empire_state_building_idd_as_yale_university_studen.html#ixzz0jn2r9YzV

-----------------

[Ian David]

1. I thought they had made it impossible to jump from there. n/t

[malaise]

4. They'll never stop a determined person

from jumping. He must have been desperately unhappy. Only the bravest take that route. :cry:

[MUAD_DIB]

10. I don't see it as brave inasmuch as I see it as being tragically desperate.

[malaise]

24. I have known many a desperate person

who could not take that decision. In an ironic way it takes an awful lot of guts.

[MUAD_DIB]

35. I don't see any bravery in it.

[bobbolink]

15. Indeed. You are right... it does take courage.

I join you in grief...:cry:

[Mojeoux]

53. How DID he by-pass ESB security and is it fixed?

Hi Bo,


This kid from Yale will have copy-cats soon. The ESB is big time attention getting.

[Mike K]

30. I have a severe case of acrophobia (fear of heights) .

I get dizzy just looking at high places in movies. Falling from a high place is Room 101 for me, which is why I was one Marine who always deferred to the Airborne. Anybody who can jump out of an airplane is a better man than me.

What did this fellow who jumped off the Empire State Building land on? Even if he just hit the sidewalk there would have been a hell of a splash.

Wow! I don't even like thinking about it.

[PavePusher]

59. Bravery?!

Seriously?

Endangering others and making a hell of a mess for others to clean up?

I don't think so...

[bobbolink]

66. Actually, if you can put yourself in someone else's shoes for a few minutes,

you might get it.

JUDGING is part of why he did what he did.

[virgogal]

9. So did I. Guess we were wrong----sadly.

[harkadog]

44. The fence up there is to prevent people from throwing things off.

It is not intended to prevent suicides. Anyone could get over it.

[virgogal]

46. Thanks for clarifying that. I hate heights so I've only been up

there once on an NYC tour when my kids were young. I just hugged the wall and wouldn't go near the edge.

[HereSince1628]

2. Like millions of other Americans who've stood on the obs deck

we all saw the fence intended to prevent such an event.

Sorry that no one up there with him could prevent a guy so determined to kill himself.

[BunkerHill24]

3. Sad, very sad. I wish him happiness on the other side. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

48. +5

[flvegan]

5. Damn. That's a LONG time to think on the way down.

How very sad. I feel for his family and loved ones.

[malaise]

8. I think the ride from Connecticut

and the elevator ride up the Empire State Building must have been much longer and more frightening. Poor kid. I feel it for his sibling and his parents.

[Ian David]

13. Actually, I've read that the final days before a suicide actually cheers people up.

Something about finally seeing an end in sight to whatever's been troubling them.

Back in High School they taught us to keep an eye out for severely depressed people who suddenly become "inexplicably and uncharacteristically cheerful," because it might mean they've just made-up their minds how and when to kill themselves.

[malaise]

19. Wow

Never thought about that perspective.

[Ian David]

12. According to a documentary on people who have survived jumping...

... from The Golden Gate Bridge, every single one of them regretted jumping on the way down.

At some given height, you're pretty much guaranteed to die, and it makes no sense to jump from higher than that.

Choosing such a tall building serves no useful purpose that *I* can see other than making it take longer to die, and perhaps getting you some more attention after you're gone.

Unless you're trying to make a political statement like Andrew Veal or Malachi Ritscher, then if you're determined to die, this is just overkill and needless additional torment.

[bobbolink]

16. Thank you for your overabundance of compassion.

[devilgrrl]

50. Oh no! Now you're on his "ignored" list!!!!

He's unbelievable! :crazy:

[inna]

21. Have there been many survivors? What a horrid way to die, anyway.

:scared:

[Ian David]

38. A few have survived

Survive A Jump From The Golden Gate Bridge?


<snip>

Scientists have long been fascinated by what happens to people who fall from great heights without a parachute. Unsurprisingly, most of them get killed; perhaps surprisingly, a few don't. A prime example of the latter was a 17-year-old male who in 1979 leaped off the Golden Gate Bridge from a height of 250 feet. According to one report, "he recount a slowing of time initially, and mid-fall, when fully realizing the oncoming impact, strove to adjust his attitude to the vertical feet-first position. An almost perfect entry was achieved. Although dazed, he swam to shore" and checked into a hospital, where his worst injury turned out to be several cracked vertebrae.

Walking away from something like that is rare. The Golden Gate Bridge is said to be the most popular suicide location in the world--at least 1,200 people had jumped as of 2003, of whom fewer than 20 survived. A more typical outcome was that of a stuntman calling himself Kid Courage, who jumped off the bridge in 1980 trying to set a free-fall record. He landed flat on his back and was dead when pulled from the water with massive internal injuries.

The key to survival appears to be vertical entry.

More:
http://techyum.com/2007/08/survive_a_jump_from_the_golden.html

Also:

Filmmaker films suicide attempts on Golden Gate Bridge
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2998965


The Bridge - A New Film Looks at Deaths from The Golden Gate Bridge
http://dying.about.com/b/2006/10/21/the-bridge-a-new-film-looks-at-deaths-from-the-golden-gate-bridge.htm



Kevin Hines, Jumped off Golden Gate Bridge and Survived INT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTeytkxlDt8

[inna]

45. Fascinating, thanks for the links. I've lived in San Francisco most of my life,

but didn't know all this...

...

[Mojeoux]

54. My friend was attending suicide prevention group and they had a speaker who survived

a jump from the GGB. He told them that as soon as he hit the water, almost all of his bones were broken and at that same moment he wanted to live more than any time in his life.

He swears that seals kept him above the surface until the GGB rescue boat arrived.

[comrade snarky]

63. I was on the bridge one day

When a person tossed a bottle over the side. A big brown glass 40 ouncer. It was hypnotic as it fell. The bottle hit the water and shattered, pieces flew back up into the air before finally splashing into the water and sinking.

After the "woooaaahhhh" of course we then yelled at the idiot for littering... but damn. It's amazing anyone has survived that fall much less lasted long enough to get fished out of the water.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. I heard years ago that you die of fright long before you hit the ground.

Don't know if that's true though.

[Bolo Boffin]

28. Well...

if you're determined to die, or resigned to death, I'd think it would be no more traumatic than a parachute jump. I don't think you'd even have time to register the impact.

I believe in the right to die, but depression can be treated, and life is a strange thing - you never know what is going to happen.

[Major Hogwash]

29. Actually they just say that, so that we won't be bothered so much by the jumpers.

But, after talking to several skydivers whose parachutes failed to open, they were terrified of being killed when they hit the ground.
The ground rushes up so fast that you don't really have much time to think about it.

Yet, they were totally shocked when they found out they weren't dead after they hit the deck.

[malaise]

39. But they weren't trying to commit suicide

so they must have been terrified.

[Maru Kitteh]

58. And so if "dying of fright" were plausible, those not trying to die

would be more likely to suffer that fate than the suicide jumpers.


The point is - it's a myth. You don't "die of fright" before hitting, reason for falling aside.

[flamingdem]

34. um, overkill? nt

[Midlodemocrat]

41. And no opportunity to change your mind. Truly heartbreaking.

[trumad]

6. OK---he was obviously metally ill...

but shit--- he could have killed someone other than himself.

[Beetwasher]

7. Yup

I feel bad for you if you are mentally unstable enough to commit suicide, but don't do it in a manner that could take me out w/ you.

[bobbolink]

18. Are you the one who plays the doctor on TV?

[Mike K]

32. That's right.

Imagine walking down the street minding your own business and 175+ pounds lands on your head from 86 stories above. Very inconsiderate way to commit suicide.

Sleeping medication, a bong, 1/4 ounce of hashish and a hose from the tail-pipe to the interior of a car would be my choice. However, the best way would be a morphine or heroin drip over time, producing several hours of physical ecstacy and ending with a gradual overdose. Go out physically intact with a happy smile.

[omega minimo]

33. you can't blame metal

[Midlodemocrat]

43. Yup. Fortunately, he didn't. No mentally healthy person kills themself.

Such a tragedy. I hope he finds peace.

[virgogal]

11. He could have killed someone else.

[Ian David]

14. But he didn't. That's how we know he wasn't a Conservative.

Conservatives have to take someone else with them, and/or force someone else to pull the trigger.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

26. I think he means he could have landed on someone below

At that height, the force from the fall, even if he had hit a car it would have been devastating.

[Ian David]

36. Good point. See also: Woman commits suicide, lands on teen at NYC mall

Woman commits suicide, lands on teen at NYC mall
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5420640

[Posteritatis]

40. The most liberal person in the world hitting me at that velocity would be a little inconvenient

For god's sake, not everything has to have the left-right dichotomy dragged into it.

[Ian David]

47. That's what Hitler would have said.

:sarcasm:

[Brickbat]

17. Very sad.

I feel sorry for the people who had to clean him up, and who won't be able to get the sound of his body hitting the pavement out of their dreams, and the person who tried to talk him down. Suicide solves no problems -- it only only wrecks other people's lives and foists problems onto them.

[malaise]

20. It solves no problems for those who watch it

but it sure ends the pain of the person who kills him/herself.

[Brickbat]

22. Indeed.

I have little sympathy, though, because of the pain that person forces on others.

[tonysam]

23. Never mind what it does to the survivors.

Suicide is an extremely selfish act; I have NO sympathy for people who do it.

[malaise]

25. You know what

Since I'll never know their pain, I won't judge the action. What may look selfish to onlookers may be viewed as the only way out for the desperate.
I'm very lucky - I've always been healthy. I refuse to pass judgement on those who take their own lives without selfishly killing others.

[Paladin]

51. Ever Had One Of Your Family Members Take Their Own Life?

No, I didn't think so. Lose the wide-eyed hero worship for suicides, OK? It's morbid, in poor taste, and takes no account of the unending damage done to loved ones left behind.....

[inna]

57. "the wide-eyed hero worship for suicides"??

wtf are you even babbling about?? :wtf:


Your comment is idiotic and offensive. Not to mention, patently untrue.

:thumbsdown:

[inna]

55. "Selfish" is a completely wrong choice of words here. Destructive, yes. Selfish, no.

Destruction of self cannot be "selfish" by definition.


Now, not feeling any sympathy for victims is your prerogative, clearly.

[kimi]

31. Severe depression warps the mind, in a way

to the point where the depressed person simply can't see beyond their own pain. Looking outside themselves is often not an option, they just aren't capable of it when they get to the point where suicide is their ultimate decision. It's tragic, and unfortunately it can be hard to discern in those who are dedicated to acting on the impulse. I'm so sorry this happened, and it breaks my heart for those left behind. I hope they find peace, because the young man is surely at peace now.

[will_in_chicago]

49. The need for mental health coverage

A stronger health care system, which would also cover mental illness, might have provided a counselor to reach out tho this young man. Let us pray for peace among those who loved him, and strive to build a society where none who cry out for help are unheard.

[Glimmer of Hope]

61. So true. It can be a very serious disease.

[chrisa]

65. They could have the most wonderful things happen to them,

But they would still see it as awful, and themselves are losers undeserving to live. Depression is a scary disease.

A permanent solution to a short-term problem.

[Neecy]

37. He was a nice looking young man

Was bright enough to get into Yale...you wonder what kind of despair would drive him to this. Poor kid - RIP.

[MrSlayer]

42. Well, if you want to be sure it takes.

That's probably a good way to do it. It's a shame that this dude felt there was no other recourse. Things are rarely that bad.

[okie]

52. Reminds me of this bit from David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest

"The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling."

Glad he didn't land on anyone.

[nomorenomore08]

56. So it's not a desire for death, as much as it's a visceral terror of living.

Makes a lot of sense to me. :thumbsup:

[inna]

60. Interesting and makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your post/quote. nt

[Ian David]

64. And don't forget the guy who jumped out of the helicopter in Rambo II. n/t

[Puzzler]

62. As tragic as his death is... he easily could have killed someone on the sidewalk below.