Pizza Prevents Tragedy (maybe): Ravenel Bridge Drama Recap

June 24, 2013

10:20 PM

Credit: Post & Courier

Here’s a round-up of today’s unique situation on the Ravenel Bridge:

TIMELINE

7 am – The first calls about the potential jumper come into police.
- The jumper, a man, parked his vehicle in the “southbound lane of the Ravenel Bridge, stepped across the barrier and threatened to jump as he walked back and forth on the ledge” (WCBD).
11:40 am – Originally, police only closed two lanes on the bridge, but around this time they close all lanes on the southbound side.
11:47 am – Glen Smith from the Post & Courier was the first to mention that police were offering the suspect a slice of pizza.
12:06 pm – Smith tweets out Grace Beahm’s picture of a police officer holding the pizza box, later identified as being from Andolini’s.
12:11 pm – The suspect was taken into custody.
12:23 pm – The bridge is reopened.

MEDIA ROUND-UP

The day Mount Pleasant traffic stood still (Post & Courier).
Mount Pleasant pizza man center of attention after police use his pie to help coax possible jumper from Ravenel Bridge (Post & Courier).
Andolini’s reports spike in orders after cops talk down jumper with pepperoni pie (Charleston City Paper).
Is Andolini’s Pizza Having the Weirdest Day Ever? (Eater CHS).
By this afternoon the story made its way to the front page of Reddit.
Mt. Pleasanters react to bridge jumper holdup (Charleston City Paper).