Trooper stops 2nd man's leap off bridge

Two friends, 30 and 28, plan to jump off the Sunshine Skyway bridge. One does, but the other is talked down from the edge.

By LEANORA MINAI

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 23, 2000

When Cpl. Richard Kraus pulled behind the abandoned car on the Sunshine Skyway bridge, he saw two men standing near the concrete wall. The waters of Tampa Bay glistened nearly 200 feet below.

"Did you break down?" Kraus asked them.

One of the men, 30-year-old Rodney Kibler, inched closer to the wall. Kibler asked how high they were.

"The next thing I know is he puts his leg over. He waves to his friend and says, "See ya,' and jumped," Kraus said Wednesday.

Kraus, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper, said St. Petersburg residents Kibler and Arthur "Bill" Clark had been drinking and tried to fulfill a suicide pact just after midnight Wednesday.

The trooper thwarted Clark's attempt after he swung one leg over the wall and made the sign of the cross. Kraus talked the 28-year-old into sitting in an FHP cruiser.

At noon Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard recovered a man's body, believed to be Kibler's, in the water off the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Positive identification had not been made by the evening.

Kibler was the sixth person to jump off the Sunshine Skyway this year. The tally includes Virginia Sheley, a 73-year-old Bradenton woman who leaped six hours before Kibler jumped. Her body has not been found.

The deaths come during the holiday season, when thoughts of suicide increase among the severely troubled or depressed, doctors say.

"The notion is at this time of year, there's such a premium on appearing happy," said Dr. David Shern, dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute in Tampa. "People who don't fit that stereotype are confronted with it, and it brings into sharp focus their sense of hopelessness and isolation."

Kibler and Clark had problems.

They battled drug or alcohol abuse.

Both joined AA programs.

Both were in trouble with the law: Clark for marijuana and cocaine possession; Kibler for burglary and violating probation after a recent grand theft arrest.

Kibler was a welder and father. His mother in Ohio had custody of two of his daughters. His third daughter lived with her mother.

"The last time I heard from him was Mother's Day," said Kibler's mother, Gerry Mahony, who was too upset to talk further Wednesday.

The men had been drinking together Tuesday night. Kibler had broken up with his girlfriend and was on medication.

They drove to the Sunshine Skyway and parked Kibler's 1982 Honda in a southbound lane of the center span. At 12:04 a.m., Kraus got a call from the toll booth about two possible jumpers.

Two minutes later, Kraus was talking with Clark and Kibler as the blue lights from his cruiser whirled in the dark.

"Are you guys okay?" Kraus asked.

Before Kraus could stop him, Kibler smiled at the trooper and Clark and jumped.

Kraus had never seen anything like it in his 19 years with the FHP. "Weird," he said. "It's strange. You think you've seen it all, then it gets you." He was left staring at Clark, who started screaming of Kibler: "How can you do this?"

Clark swung his leg over the wall.

"Hey!" Kraus yelled, startling him.

Clark made the sign of the cross and swung his second leg over.

"You don't want to do that!" Kraus told him. "Come over here and talk about it."

Kraus, 43, grabbed Clark and persuaded him to sit in the cruiser and talk. Clark, an attendant at an Amoco gas station on Fourth Street N, was taken to South Bay Hospital in Sun City for a psychiatric evaluation.

At 2:44 a.m. Wednesday, Clark called former roommate Igor Elchanski from the hospital and left a message.

"Rodney's dead," Clark said. "He jumped off the Skyway. Please call me. He did it, dude. Rodney's done it, man. Rodney's dead, and I don't know what to do."

Elchanski, 32, said he called the hospital and spoke with Clark. Clark told him he had drunk four or five beers.

"He told me he chickened out to jump," said Elchanski, also an attendant at the Amoco station.

He said Clark did not seem like someone who would want to kill himself.

"He likes himself too much to do this," Elchanski said. "He likes attention, likes to dress up nice and impress girls."

-- Times researchers Cathy Wos and Caryn Baird contributed to this report, which includes information from the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Call for help

Telephones have been installed on the Sunshine Skyway bridge that allow people to call the Crisis Center of Hillsborough County's hotline for emergency counseling if they are considering suicide. All they have to do is pick up the handset and push the red button, and a specially trained counselor will answer.

If you or someone you know is having a crisis, here are two suicide hotlines to call:

Personal Enrichment Through Mental Health Services: (727) 791-3131.

Crisis Center of Hillsborough County: (813) 234-1234.

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