Metro

NYPD stops man from jumping off Manhattan Bridge

A man dressed only in bright red cargo shorts and work boots attempted to scale the Manhattan Bridge Wednesday in an effort to commit suicide after getting into a fight with his father, authorities said.

Pedestrians and drivers spotted the shirtless and apparently disturbed individual making his way up one of the suspension cables of the bridge at around 2:15 p.m., cops said.

Five members of the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit soon arrived and climbed the span to meet the man.

“As I approach he said, ‘stay back stay back,’” said police officer Steven Caron. “I could see his arms were shaking.”

Caron, along with Sgt. Joseph Durante and officers Robert Savori, Robert Romano and John Ryan, spent the next 20 minutes trying to convince the suicidal man to come to them.

Emergency Services Unit help the man walk back down the cables.Gregory P. Mango

“He expressed to us that he had gotten into a fight with his father and wanted to jump off the bridge,” said Caron, who was the first officer to make contact with the unidentified man.

“I told him, ‘those things really don’t matter,’” the cop recalled saying. “‘I don’t think your father would want you to do this. At that point I think we had a little connection.”

After calming the man down, he finally agreed to surrender to police and was placed in a harness and walked down the side of the massive cable.

He was taken into custody and taken to Bellevue Hospital for a psychological evaluation, cops said.

“We train for these exact type of situations,” Caron said. “When we talk about it after, the feelings come out. But during the time we’re focused on the job at hand.”