Metro

Jumper a man of his word

An elderly Chelsea man sent out 25 letters declaring his intention to leap off the George Washington Bridge and kept his vow — even as friends tried desperately to get him help, even committing him to Bellevue.

Roy Flower, 76, jumped to his death Wednesday night, leaving his metal walker behind just nine hours after he was released from the hospital, where he had been under treatment since August.

The former oil-company worker hobbled onto a spot on the New York side of the bridge, leaving his Bellevue patient tag and a photo of himself attached to his walker.

But he also left behind many a broken heart.

“He was one of these people who go through life leaving a penny rather than taking a penny,” said Larry Sherri, a clerk at the L&M Deli on Seventh Avenue, which Flower frequented.

“He was one of those customers who was a pleasure to wait on. You have customers who are very demanding, and he was not one of those people.”

In his letter, Flower told friends that he had led a good life but was tired of living, said a law-enforcement source.

That prompted them to call the police, who took him to Bellevue.

When asked yesterday why he was released, the city Health and Hospitals Corp. declined to comment.