Colorado Bridge safety effort fails

LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11) - Marci Solway got up to a horrible sight. She looked out her window to see a lifeless body in the field across the way from her town home where they are building Habitat for Humanity homes.

Authorities say the man in the field had jumped from the Colorado Street Bridge. Solway says she was "beyond shocked because the city put temporary barriers up" to stop jumpers. But, sometime early Monday in the wee hours, that's exactly what happened.

Officials with the city of Pasadena were upset. They said the chain link was used as a temporary measure. William Boyer with the city said, "It's a terrible thing to know that people are doing this and we want to try and prevent this because at the end of the day it's something that needs to stop."

In just the last few months four men and three women (one was a 16-year-old) perished. Fire officials say most were in their 20s and 30s… one in their 60s

Boyer says, "It's a tragic loss of life and we take it very seriously. We want to be able to prevent people from using the bridge in this way."

This past weekend's work to construct barriers was step one to make the bridge safe. Some say what's been done so far is more of a visual message to people who want to jump.

He didn't want to speak on camera, but the public works director - who was very upset about this latest death - says the safety measures happening on this iconic bridge are a work in progress. That there are plans to improve what they've started… more barriers. Fencing that is more permanent.

That's what Marci Solway would like to see. Maybe security guards on the bridge and, stop making it a public walkway.

It is that. We found Gail Whaley and her daughter Veronica from Sacramento. They were on a LALALand tour… checking out places shown in the famous movie. The Colorado Street Bridge was one of them. They were shocked to hear what happened today about the latest death and only went halfway across the bridge because it seemed too sad to celebrate the bridge.

Which brings us back to Marci Solway. This is very tough for her. She had an extended family member who died after jumping off a building and her own daughter and her kids were killed in a car wreck.

Says Solway, "every time I see another body it is just… the flashbacks. The thoughts of what I went through… that morning… the phone call… everything just flashes back inside your body with all that horrible stuff that I have survived."

The city says the work will continue on the bridge.