Man Gives Up Perch on Bridge; Woman in L.A. Leaps to Death

An unidentified 40-year-old man who had threatened to jump from the Vincent Thomas Bridge at Los Angeles Harbor was persuaded to come down at 8 a.m. today, 16 hours after he climbed atop the 185-foot-high span. The bridge, which had been closed to traffic since Monday afternoon, was reopened shortly after the man abandoned his threat.

In downtown Los Angeles, a woman who police said appeared to be in her 50s carried out her threat to jump from the ninth floor of the Broadway Plaza parking structure at 6:15 a.m. today. She died instantly when she hit the ground, police said.

The woman, whose identity was not immediately available, told officers just before jumping that she had no one to care for her and that she had been living on the streets.