Screengrab via YouTube/KATC
Jumping off a bridge under any circumstance seems like a risky idea. But doing so because one is stuck in traffic and is just sick of sitting around is… something. Then again, when you’ve been isolated in your car for three hours and have no idea when you’ll be back to driving, it may be the only way out.
For a Louisiana man named Jimmy Ivan Jennings, he took that latter route as his only option after being stuck in a traffic jam on the interstate, daringly leaping from nearly 100-feet up to rid himself from the frustration of a six care pileup. Was it the smartest thing to do? No. But did it work for him because, you know, he didn’t actually die? Yep.
Thanks to everyone loving attention, Jimmy got a chance to go viral for jumping off a bridge. Take a look below at the wild video.
So did jumping off a bridge prove to be everything that Jimmy Ivan Jennings dreamt it would be and more? Well, it didn’t exactly go as he imagined once he actually hit the water, and, instead of just easily swimming to shore, ended up struggling for nearly three hours with a busted mouth and arm.
Just look at some of the details that came out of the daring (and dumb) bridge leap.
- Jimmy was forced to tread water for three hours against a strong current just trying to get to shore
- Once on shore, he found an ATV and tried to ride it to help… only to discover he was on an island
- He then borrowed, or stole, a boat from an empty house on said island to take it to the other nearby shore
- Once an ambulance did rescue him, he was handed numerous police issuing citations, including criminal mischief and criminal trespassing
So, was it worth it to Jimmy? Does he think it was the wisest decision? Did he offer a good reason? Not exactly.
Per The Hill:
Jimmy Ivan Jennings, 26, was stuck in standstill traffic with some friends for over two hours due to a multi-car collision, when he decided to jump off the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge as a joke to kill some time.
“We were bored inside the truck. … I looked down (at the water), and it didn’t seem too far,” Jennings told the NY Daily News. “As soon as my fingertips came off that side, I was like, ‘Oh my god, this was the stupidest idea.’”
Instead of being able to quickly swim to shore and walk back up to the car as he planned, Jennings injured himself and quickly got caught in the current.
…
“It was crazy to do what I did,” Jennings said, adding, “I don’t even want to swim anymore.”
Look, being in a traffic jam blows, but there have been other people who went viral for doing something to pass the time way less daring than jumping off something 100 feet in the air.
Let all of this be a lesson for anybody thinking about jumping off a bridge: The thrill might seem amazing at first, but once you hit the 10-foot mark of a 100-foot leap, well, death sort of creeps into your mind. Luckily, Jimmy Ivan Jennings was able to walk away from this dumbass stunt. But it came after some serious struggle that turned out to be more difficult to survive than the bridge jump itself.