Dramatic video shows suspect jumping off bridge after police chase
CBSN
A 34-year-old man attempted to get away from police over the weekend by jumping from the top of a Florida bridge into a river after losing control of a stolen van, authorities said. Aerial footage of the wild chase showed the man plunge into the water as the police closed in.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook it all started when deputies attempted to pull the van over Saturday evening and the driver, identified as Bryan Gray, sped off. On the Edison Bridge, the van suddenly swerved across the empty three-lane highway and crashed into a barrier on one side and then on the other side before coming to a stop.
Video footage from a police helicopter shows the suspect stumbling out of the van and making his way toward the bridge's railing. He climbed over it and stood above the Caloosahatchee River briefly as a police vehicle pulled up.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.