SAN JOSE (BCN) — A woman was hospitalized today after leaping from a wall beside Interstate Highway 880 in San Jose and landing on her back in a creek bed, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The woman jumped at about 3 p.m., nearly five hours after the CHP received a report she had sat on the wall, prompting the CHP to halt traffic on two of four southbound lanes on Highway 880 at the off-ramp to Brokaw Road, Officer Ross Lee said.
The CHP were notified at 10:20 a.m. today that the woman, in her late 30s to early 40s, was on the wall, Lee said.
She plunged an estimated 40 feet into the marshy mud and grass bed of Coyote Creek and paramedics, who were standing by, went down to pick her up and transport her by ambulance to a hospital, Lee said.
She appeared conscious, responsive and breathing when medical personnel went to get her, but she landed on her back and might suffer from internal injuries, Lee said.
Earlier, CHP officers, a negotiator from Milpitas police and people from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department were at the scene trying to convince her to come down.
There were moments when it appeared that they had succeeded in persuading her but she remained until deciding to jump, he said.