Bystander Asks for Suicidal Man’s Car Before Death Leap

A bystander watching a despondent man prepare to leap to his death from a Los Angeles bridge early today asked the man for his 1970 Cadillac, telling the suicidal man he would no longer have need for it, police said.

Several people watched as the man bent on suicide headed for the railing of the Macy Street bridge northeast of downtown shortly before 1 a.m., Sgt. Jack Hoar said. It was then that one of the witnesses asked the unidentified man if he could have his 18-year-old car.

Without responding, the man jumped, striking the concrete bottom of the Los Angeles River about 100 feet below. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said there was less than a foot of water in the river. They do not know why he took the fatal plunge.