TORONTO – It’s a scenario that hasn’t played out in Toronto in over a decade: a suicide on the Bloor Viaduct.
That’s why officers responding to a call on the bridge once labeled a “suicide magnet” were so alarmed, even shocked when they were told what was happening.
It was about 2:00 a.m. on Friday, October 10th. Sgt. Steve Moore was the first to respond.
He drove across the bridge he “could see a male on the outside of the safety barrier, scaling the bridge.”
“I got out, tried to engage the male in conversation. He seemed kind of unaware of my presence or not wanting to pay any attention,” he said.
Moore immediately called for backup.
The man was unresponsive to other officers and emergency staff who attended. It turned out he was wearing earphones and couldn’t hear them, but the officers couldn’t take any chances.
Another officer, whose identity is being withheld because he works undercover, acted quickly.
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“I just reached through the barrier, put him in a bear hug, and grabbed around behind his body,” he said.
Sgt. Moore and others immediately joined the effort they each grabbed one of the man’s arms to hold onto him.
What followed, according to the officers, was a 40-minute wrestling match through the “Luminous Veil” barrier with a man set on breaking their grip and ending his own life.
Toronto Fire eventually cut the bars, but not before tethering everyone together. They then yanked the officers and the man to safety.
Officers say the suicide barrier helped them gain the leverage needed to hang on to the man for so long. The undercover officer also says he’s thankful he chose to put on gloves before grabbing the man as they improved his grip.
Since the construction of the barrier in 2003 there hasn’t been a single suicide on the viaduct, but experts say it hasn’t solved the problem city-wide.
A 2010 study by the Sunnybrook Research Institute found the rate of suicide by jumping hasn’t dropped in Toronto since the Luminous Veil was completed. The report, published in the British Medical Journal, says the barrier has only made people move to other bridges and buildings.
“In Toronto we’ve seen a little bit of migration,” says Karen Letofsky, the executive director of Toronto Distress Centres.
She says others cities with similar barriers haven’t seen that same migration, but that media reports of the day contributed to the problem because some of the stories allegedly named other possible locations.
News organizations in Canada generally don’t report on suicide. But Letofsky says not talking about suicide is not an option and reporters just need to be responsible.
As for the officers involved in the Viaduct rescue; some are calling them heroes, but it’s an accolade they don’t want.
“Anybody else here would’ve done the same thing,” says the unidentified officer. “I’m sure many other people would’ve done the same thing.”
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