SAYREVILLE, NJ
A 43-year-old man from the Somerset section of Franklin died Monday after he apparently stood on the hood of his car and jumped off the Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge into the Raritan River.
The man was identified as Troy McCracken, according to State Police.
State Police Lt. Brian Polite said that State Troopers received a 911 call around 6:20 a.m. Monday from a witness who reported seeing a person traveling southbound on the shoulder of Garden State Parkway. The witness said the driver stopped the vehicle on the Driscoll Bridge, got out and climbed onto the hood of a blue Infiniti and jumped off the bridge.
Polite said the New Jersey State Police marine and aviation units responded along with the Perth Amboy marine unit. The units searched for several hours but were unable to find anyone.
Around 12:30 p.m., a body was pulled from the water by the New Jersey State Police and Perth Amboy marine units, Polite said.
He said the Middlesex County Medical Examiner's Office responded and pronounced the person dead. He said the body was removed by the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.
McCracken is the second person to have fatally jumped off the bridge in the past few months. In April, a High Bridge man's vehicle was found unoccupied and running on the bridge, which connects Woodbridge and Sayreville. The body of Michael Beadle, 52, was found in mid-May.
The nearby Victory Bridge, which connects Perth Amboy and Sayreville along Route 35, had been the scene of 23 suicides and 84 suicide attempts since it was redesigned with a high arch in 2005. Last fall, the state Department of Transportation installed a fence that has helped to prevent additional suicides.