A man died early Tuesday morning after leaping from an overpass on Interstate 95 in Baltimore. He had escaped from an ambulance six hours earlier, and authorities attempted to persuade him from jumping while diverting southbound traffic.
Reed Timothy Ivin Williams, 40, of Gwynn Oak, already had been coaxed down from a ledge of the Key Bridge earlier Monday morning by an off-duty Baltimore County police officer and a driver, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority police.
Williams was taken after the first incident to Franklin Square Hospital and was picked up at about 10:30 p.m. by a private ambulance for a transfer to University of Maryland Medical Center, when he overpowered the medical attendants and jumped out the back doors, Cpl. Pamela Thorne, a Transportation Authority police spokeswoman, said.
Transportation Authority police, Baltimore police officers and Fire Department rescue workers tried for about six subsequent hours to talk Williams down from the Jersey barrier of the overpass, which was 55 feet off the ground.
Williams was stunned by a taser gun at about 4:39 a.m. as part of a tactical response plan, and then jumped.
Williams had threatened to jump off the Key Bridge several years ago in another incident, police said, and it took hours to talk him down.
Southbound traffic was detoured at exit 57 and reopened shortly after 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
