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| By Barbara Laker, Philadelphia Daily NewsMcClatchy-Tribune Regional News Dec. 2--It was just after 9:40 a.m., a busy workday after a holiday weekend. The corner of 12th and Market, in the shadow of City Hall, was bustling as it is every weekday morning. Jamye Davis was at work in the T-Mobile store on the southeast corner, when she heard a thud so loud she thought it was a gunshot. She looked out the window and, to her horror, saw the crumpled, twisted, bloodied body of a man on the sidewalk. The man, whom police identified as a 23-year-old resident of Blue Bell, Montgomery County, apparently had taken the elevator to the 33rd floor -- the top floor -- of the Loews Philadelphia Hotel on the southwest corner. He broke a window in one of the banquet rooms, police said, and plunged nearly 500 feet to the sidewalk, ending his life. The man narrowly missed a woman pushing a child in a stroller, witnesses said. She jumped out of the way and screamed. His body landed with such force that it bounced up before landing, and people stared in shock, said Davis, who called 9-1-1. "It's scary and sad to see someone take his own life like that," Davis said. Police closed off a section of the sidewalk and covered the body with a sheet while they investigated. He was pronounced dead at 9:50 a.m., said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore. By noon, the Medical Examiner's Office had removed the body. Police are classifying the incident as a suicide, Vanore said. ----- To see more of the Philadelphia Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Philadelphia Daily News Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |
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