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Senior citizen pushes would be suicide jumper off bridge

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New Express
May 22, 2009

Today's Guangzhou-based New Express reports on an odd incident that took place in Guangzhou yesterday: a 31-year-old subcontractor climbed to the top of a bridge and threatened to jump off. This gambit is not uncommon among desperate creditors who want government intervention to help them get their money back, but in this case, as he was waiting on the bridge, an elderly man snuck up and pushed him off.

Though the man landed on an air mattress, he suffered multiple bone fractures and was said to be in critical condition in the hospital. The old man gave a triumphant salute to onlookers and then was arrested by police.

An article that ran on May 15 reported that there had been 15 "jumping shows" on that same bridge, the Haizhu Bridge, this year. Eight of the individuals were arrested for traffic disruption.

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City Lady
May 22, 2009

The bottom of the paper reports that 13 women died in a factory fire yesterday in Shantou, Guangdong.

Other newspapers featured Li Yuchun, former champion of the Hunan TV talent show Super Girls. The popular singer, known for her androgynous look, will have a wax likeness installed in Shanghai's Madame Tussauds Museum.

A photo showing Li having her measurments taken is featured on the cover of today's City Lady, a Jinan-based newspaper which, as its name suggests, aims its reporting at women.

According to the paper's report, Li is the first woman singer in mainland China to be invited to appear in the Museum. The wax statue will be unveiled in September.

Update: Here's a news report showing the incident:

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There are currently 13 Comments for Senior citizen pushes would be suicide jumper off bridge.

Comments on Senior citizen pushes would be suicide jumper off bridge

gotta say, that's pretty hilarious.

Berkeley tree-sitters should take a note of this.

Fail to see the "hilarious" in this.

Just a desperate person and a bully.

Just because you're "elderly" doesn't somehow confer extra leeway. I hope they throw the book at the old bastard.

^ The elderly person pushed the other person down because there was air mattress on the ground, so he apparently thought that guy would not be hurt. The elderly person obviously has been fed up with all these bridge jumpers that disrupt a major traffic hub for so long, and so many times. Not that I necessarily agree to what he did, but he is certainly not an old bastard.

The old bastard made assumptions regarding things he knew nothing about. People die FALLING OUT OF BED let alone falling uncontrolled for several meters onto whatever surface.

I hope they charge him with aggravated assault, or whatever the Chinese equivalent of that is. I hope he serves time.

If "these bridge jumpers" disrupt a "major traffic hub" then surely that is an issue for the city government to improve the security on that bridge.

NOT an issue for cranky old bastards to take the law into their own hands and put multiple lives at risk.

Most of lovely retirees I know here spent their youth humiliating, beating up or torturing others. Pushing someone off a bridge,that's nothing to them. Anyone who has lived here long enough knows that the old bastards are all mentally deranged, and shouldn't be surprised to see this.

Haha ha certainly one way to deal with the problem, and surely they both knew that the mattress placed below would mean suicide was out of the question once it was in place.
The question should be about the authorities charged with trying to talk him down, surely it doesnt take 5 hours to talk an attention seeker down. Also why did they not put up a fence to stop people climbing to where they can pretend to be likely to commit suicide.
The main question though, if he was frustrated by debt why didnt he just knock himself of straight away? Who cares if he threatens suicide, he survives (intentionally is seems) and he is still in debt.

what that guy did, shoving someone off a bridge, is sickening. just watch the video for yourself.

and yeah, who cares how old he is?

Jumper is a failure. Take him out of the gene pool.

gotta say, he was doing what everyone would've liked to have done- and since he's old, he figured he might get away with it. But I cannot imagine how once he got there, looking the man in the eyes, he went ahead and did it. I mean, killing someone is hard.

I would have done the same.

Well it had been five hours and who doesn't have money problems right now? That is nothing but ego and pride that he's scared to let go of. Pushing that guy off the bridge was probably the best thing that guy could have done for him. It probably made the suicidal man think some things over.

I think this old guy did the right thing. Because if the other dude was trying to commit suicide then he would have done it 5 hours before. The old man obviously knew that he wanted attention and he would most likely not jump at all so he took it to himself and threw the guy off.

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