Man who jumped from Deception Pass Bridge identified | Update

A man died after jumping from Deception Pass Bridge this morning. A woman saw the man hanging over the side of the bridge and walked over to him. She begged him to hold on, but he let go as she grabbed for him, according to witnesses. Several people driving by saw the incident, which occurred at about 8:30 a.m.

The Skagit County coroner identified the man who died Monday morning after jumping from Deception Pass Bridge as Bruce Tiedeman of Bellingham.

Skagit County Coroner Daniel Dempsey said Tiedeman, 67, parked his car at north end of the bridge but didn’t leave a note behind.

“Nobody knows why he did it,” Dempsey said.

A family member and friend commented about him on the Whidbey News-Times website, saying that he had been plagued by depression and other health issues.

Pam Castanera, his neighbor, said he was a very nice man who often kept to himself but shared with her his “intermittent” struggles with depression. She said he seemed a little sad the last time she saw him but not enough for her to worry.

“There is just no way anyone could have predicted this,” she said.

Monday at around 8:30 a.m., several people driving over Deception Pass stopped to help after seeing Tiedeman hanging off the bridge while holding on to the side rail.

A woman got out and walked over to him, begging him to hold on, but he let go as she grabbed for him, according to witnesses.

Tiedeman hit the rocky beach below and died instantly, Dempsey said.

Traffic at bridge was briefly stopped as witnesses stopped their cars.

First responders from both Skagit and Island counties responded to Deception Pass Bridge, which spans between the two counties.

Christina Harkness, a victim services coordinator, urges people affected by this incident to call the Victim Support Services crisis line at 1-800-346-7555 if they need to talk to someone.

“This can be a highly traumatizing event and we are here to help,” she said.