Resident Is Rescued After Jump From Water Tower

Thursday, March 17, 2005

The Progress

NORTH CALDWELL - For about 90 minutes, a North Caldwell resident hung upside down after jumping from a Hilltop water tower in Verona and becoming wedged in the tower's support stanchions, police said.

At about 4:50 p.m. Monday, March 14, police received a call from the Essex County Sheriff's Office that a report of an emotionally disturbed person had been received.

North Caldwell's Chief Joseph Clark, Capt. Steven Gallagher, Officer John Belotta and Officer Michael Cristofano went to the scene, as did the Verona and county police, Gallagher said.

"When we arrived, we could see that there was a person lying down on the walkway that surrounds the top of the water tower," said Gallagher.

"Police were also interviewing residents on the scene who said they saw someone on the water tower that was up there yelling and screaming. At first they thought he was talking to a friend on the ground, but then they realized that he was upset, so they called for help," Gallagher said.

Police said they tried to convince the man, whose name is being withheld, to remain calm and wait to be rescued by Verona Fire Department's 85-foot ladder.

"But, he started to get up even though we were trying to yell up to him to stay down and not to move," Gallagher said.

Over the course of 10 to 15 minutes the man let first one arm, then a leg and finally two legs dangle over the edge of the walkway before he let go, police said.

Although the man had a rope tied to the tower and around his neck, it was not sturdy and snapped when he fell off the platform, said police.

When he let go and fell, the man hit a support on the tower and while sliding down the support his leg became pinned in the 45-degree angle of the support stanchion. He was suspended upside down, police said.

When the Verona Fire Department truck arrived, two Verona police officers and one Verona firefighter went up on the platform to make the rescue, but the ladder was not long enough to reach the man, Gallagher said.

Roseland Fire Department was called in to assist in the rescue as they have a 110-foot ladder.

At almost 7 p.m. police were able to release the man from the support, Gallagher said.

Using Roseland's equipment, Sgt. Robert Acceturo of the Verona Police Department went up in the ladder's platform with a Cedar Grove firefight and a Roseland firefighter to make the rescue. They were able to lower the man onto the platform. Once he was on the ground, the State Police flew him to University Hospital in Newark using the NorthSTAR critical care transport helicopter.

Police said the State Police tactical unit investigators recovered a bag on the water tower's walkway and a partially filled bottle of vodka.

Also responding were members of the Essex County Police, State Police Tactical Unit, Verona's police and fire department, North Caldwell Police Department, Roseland Fire Department, Cedar Grove Rescue Squad and Mountainside Hospital Paramedics Unit.