Posts Tagged ‘bridge’

The man who climbed the Tobin Bridge shortly after the conclusion of last Wednesday’s evening commute had many first responders looking out for his well being. Police scanner broadcasts indicated that Boston EMS, Firefighters and Police from Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts State Police, and US Coast Guard sent units to the bridge. Boston Fire sent its Technical Rescue Unit, and Boston and Massachusetts State Police sent hostage negotiators. They were all very patient, as this effort took 2 hours. I was on scene to photograph, actually 1900 feet away in East Boston, according to Google Earth, when this drama played out. Photos below show an airbag inflated near Boston Fire’s Tower Ladder 3 on the upper deck roadway, a hostage negotiator with a bullhorn, and rescue boats in the water below. At one point the man can be seen inside one of the open air windows inside a steel beam, peering out. A first responder on scene told me later that night that the man had an amazing grip. The event was quite pressure packed for me. I hoped rescuers would save the man and did not want to see him fall. The final photo shows the man beginning his climb to safety. Below are several of my photos, including one that appeared in the Boston Herald. Herald colleagues, Matt Stone and Christopher Evans were also on scene, and their photos can be seen at the following link.

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Chelsea police officer Paul McCarthy was awarded a medal yesterday for his life saving actions on Saturday, atop the Tobin Bridge, according to the Chelsea police website. A man had allegedly assaulted his wife and was on the run when a Chelsea cop spotted him and initiated a brief pursuit, that ended when the man jumped from the upper deck of the bridge, only to get caught in construction safety netting on the lower deck. Here is my original post, with photos, from the incident. Below are more of my photos of officer McCarthy in action on the Tobin. Photos were snapped during my Saturday shift as a Boston Herald staff photographer.

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Chelsea police and fire department, along with Boston fire department, rescued a man from high above the Mystic River Saturday  August 9. A man allegedly assaulted his wife with a knife in Malden. Malden police gave an alert, in the form of an all points bulletin,  “be on the lookout” broadcast. A Chelsea police officer spotted his Lincoln Towne Car and gave chase. A brief pursuit ended on the upper deck of the Tobin Bridge when the man got out of his car and jumped over the railing. He was caught in the construction netting on the lower deck, approximately 50 feet below where he jumped from. He survived with a leg injury. The rescue took approximately 30 minutes. I was there, far away and under the bridge, with my 800mm lens and a 1.4x extender. Here are my photos.

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When I heard the first police radio transmission of today’s dramatic Boston truck crash I hopped in my car and accelerated away from the Moakley Courthouse, where I had been stationed for Boston Herald coverage of the James “Whitey” Bulger trial. I hit extreme traffic that was barely moving inside the Tip O’Neill Tunnel. I finally made it as far as the Zakim Bridge when I was passed by Boston EMS and Fire department trucks. I heard a trooper on the police scanner say that the roadway was going to be fully shut down for “a while.” I donned my yellowish-lime safety vest, that media photographers MUST wear while working on a roadway, and made sure my press pass was around my neck. Shortly after the Zakim bridge I pulled over as far left as I could go and ditched my car. My car was fully out of the way of any other emergency worker’s vehicle that was still enroute. I then grabbed my cameras and jogged the Rte 93 upper deck until I arrived at the accident scene adjacent the Sullivan Sq. down ramp (see my photos below, and with Herald scribe John Zeremba’s story at the Herald’s website). The Massachusetts state troopers,  Boston Fire and Boston EMS personnel were AWESOME & accommodating. The real problem was the extreme rain, as I could not keep my lens’ front glass dry, and making sure that I didn’t lean over the railing too far 🙂

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