After Four Hours, Distraught Man

On Silver Bridge Talked Down By Police

By Andrew Gorosko

A Woodbury man, who had climbed atop the truss framework of the Silver Bridge and threatened to jump into the Housatonic River about 50 feet below on the night of Thursday, July 20, was convinced, after hours of negotiations with police, to relent and enter the safety of a fire department aerial platform which had been positioned nearby.

At 7:42 pm, state police received a report that a man, who was later identified as Chester Seavey, 49, of Woodbury, was walking atop the towering superstructure of the truss-style bridge which spans the river, linking Glen Road in Sandy Hook to River Road in Southbury.

State troopers who went to the scene saw Seavey brandishing what later was determined to be a toy gun, which Seavey subsequently dropped to the ground.

State police had briefly trained rifles on Seavey, later dropping their aim, after learning that the toy gun did not pose a threat.

Seavey was despondent regarding several personal issues and was threatening to jump from the bridge, state police said.

Newtown emergency service personnel including police, marine police, fire, ambulance, and divers responded to the incident from the Sandy Hook side of the bridge. State police and Southbury emergency service personnel responded to the crisis from the Southbury side of the span. The river beneath the bridge is the border between the two towns. The bridge was closed to vehicles and traffic was detoured to alternate routes.

During the course of the harrowing incident, which lasted almost four hours, Seavey repeatedly walked back and forth atop the framework of the bridge from Sandy Hook to Southbury. The steel beams, which form the main arches of the span, are about three feet wide. Seavey also walked back and forth on the narrow crossmembers which link the two main arches of the bridge. Seavey repeatedly told police to leave him alone.

State police said they were able to eventually negotiate a voluntary surrender by Seavey without incident. They did so with the aid of the Southbury Volunteer Fire Company, which had positioned its 100-foot-tall aerial platform adjacent to Seavey. Negotiators on the platform spoke to Seavey, eventually convincing him to enter the platform, which was then lowered to the ground.

After Seavey reached the ground, Southbury Resident State Trooper Clayton Brown transported Seavey to St Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury for evaluation. State police did not charge Seavey in the incident.

Commenting on the incident, Acting Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe said that Seavey has personal problems, noting that Seavey had gone to extreme measures to be noticed in climbing atop the bridge.

Detective Sergeant Henry Stormer said Newtown police knew Seavey from past experience and had attempted to convince him to come down off the bridge. “We did what we could,” he said.

During hot summer weather, the bridge attracts thrill seekers who jump from the span into the river below.