Man Stopped From Jumping Off Bridge

Authorities spent nearly 21 hours trying to talk a Long Beach man out of jumping off the Gerald Desmond Bridge, then grabbed him from a fire department cherry picker.

The man, Ralph Whaley, 28, underwent drug tests at the Long Beach police station early Monday and was to be sent to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation, Lt. Philip King said.

Whaley stood on the same bridge on Feb. 2 for 14 hours, threatening to jump before finally coming down, King said.

Police psychologist Sgt. Robin Klein talked to Whaley intermittently, trying to coax him down from his perch 75 feet above the bridge roadway, until he got within arms’ reach of Whaley at 4:50 a.m. while up in the fire department apparatus, King said. Klein then pulled Whaley into the basket.