Disgruntled ‘Vet’ Threatens to Jump, Causes Gridlock

Just before 5 p.m., Key Bridge was completely shut down for at least three hours Jan. 8, as police dealt with a potential jumper who was clinging to the eastern railing of the bridge. According to several sources who requested anonymity, a 30-year black male who claimed to be a veteran was upset about his benefits or lack thereof. The incident brought out hundreds of police officers, who shut down streets from the West End, east of Georgetown, and shut down parts of Wisconsin Avenue. Traffic was snarled all the way to Arizona Avenue. No one could walk or drive over the bridge until 8 p.m. A swat team was dispatched with repellers ready to leap from the bridge to hook the men if he had jumped. He was talked out of a potential suicide by police, who took the uninjured man away in an ambulance.