Coulee Dam bridge now open after person helped down from top

Update

A young man came down from the top of the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam Thursday evening, coached down by a Nespelem Valley Electric worker with a bucket truck.

Police had called for the truck earlier in the day from the Rural Electric Authority utility, which also contracts to do line repairs for the city utility in Coulee Dam and was nearby.

Police were looking for a way to communicate with the man and planned to have a cell phone delivered with the bucket truck.

But the man in the truck, who has asked not to be identified, knew the young man. His boss thought he'd be the right person to talk to the young man.

That was apparently a good call.

A little before 6 p.m., the man, after sitting atop the steel bridge in the sun and heat for hours, then drinking water the NVEC worker brought and talking with him, got into the bucket and took the ride down.

The Nespelem employee said he wants us “to start focusing on our kids' metal health in our community" and that he was "glad to be in the situation to help at that moment."

Original story:

A man is sitting on top of the Columbia River Bridge in Coulee Dam, where crisis counselors are trying to talk with him.

The bridge, and Highway 155 were closed but now have reopened to traffic.

Coulee Dam Police Chief Paul Bowden said the incident started about 1:15 Thursday afternoon when an officer asked if the man walking back and forth on the sidewalk was ok. He said he was.

Bowden said the officer knew the person is "not fond of police" and chose to leave rather than possibly make his mood worse.

But not long after that, a Bureau of Reclamation worker reported that as soon as police had left, the person started to climb up the side of the bridge.

Police have sent up a cell phone so that tribal crisis responders could try to communicate with him.

No word yet on that progress.