On January 11th at approximately 12:23 pm, Antioch Police Officers were dispatched to a call for a suspect wanted on a felony assault from the previous night. He was identified as Sunny Pal of Pittsburg.
Information provided to dispatch was Pal was suicidal and armed with a knife.
Antioch Officers located the Pal on Peppertree Way in his vehicle. Upon contact, Pal fled in his vehicle and led officers on a 4 mile pursuit. The pursuit was terminated at Wilbur Ave. and Hwy 160 when Pal got on the highway going the wrong direction. Pal then turned around and drove over the Antioch Bridge going the right direction.
As officers closed in, Pal turned around once again at the bottom of the bridge, driving back to the top of the bridge where he abandoned his vehicle. Pal jumped off the peak of the Antioch Bridge into the river below.
Pal survived the fall and was picked up by local fishermen in the area. The fishermen brought Pal to officers waiting at the Antioch Pier. Pal was taken into custody without further incident. He was transported to a local area hospital for injuries sustained from the fall off the bridge.
This preliminary information is made available by the Field Services Bureau.
Update:
Antioch Police confirmed Pal is the same man who tried to twice jump off the Antioch Bridge in February of 2015 which caused the bridge to be shut down for several hours while police tried to talk him down.
Police eventually were able to use a K9 leash to hold onto the man and pull him from the side of the bridge.
It took about 6 officers to hold the man as he tried to push off the ledge with his feet. The officers never let go.
In that incident, here is the statement made by CHP:
Today (Feb 10, 2015) at 7:47 AM, CHP – Contra Costa received reports of a man who had stopped his vehicle within the northbound SR-160 lane of the Antioch Bridge. The man began acting erratically and at 8:07 AM, the California Highway Patrol closed both directions of travel on SR-160 near this location due to safety concerns. The California Highway Patrol, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department, Antioch Police Department, Oakley Police Department, and the United States Coast Guard coordinated efforts to bring this man safely into custody at 9:46 AM. The highway has been reopened.
In March 2015, the same man tried to jump a second time. Officers safely removed him from the bridge in that incident.
22 comments
He’ll continue to jump. And break the law.
Jennifer, your absolutely right. Maybe one day he will get it right and quit wasting everyone’s time.
Maybe you can get it right and join him
I’d say let him jump. Why waste valuable resources and lives on this piece of shit who shows no concern for others lives.
I hope he gets help, does his time and can find the joy in life
Sounds like mental illness to me. Good job by the cops but it’s a temporary fix like what’s said above. It’s a shame many individuals like this are incarcerated instead of getting the real help needed, while real criminals get slaps on the wrist.
Obviously the man needs mental help.
Very much so Linda. Unfortunately the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and many people today were raised by ignorant and prejudice parents who thought mental illness was a choice or a disregard of the most acceptable social religion and just want to punish them; however, as a whole, I see progress in the future and a better understanding of mental illness. Just think- many of the adolescents at Tobinworld will grow up and maybe do this same thing…
Yeah, nothing about trying to kill yourself by jumping off a bridge looks like deliberate criminal activity to me. That’s a pretty lonely and desperate place to have gotten to. . .young, able-bodied, and living in a first world country, many of the people on the earth would be happy to swap places. Something’s really, really wrong. I hope he can find a good life purpose and develop some meaningful attachments and stop feeling that it’s such a horrid world that it’s not worth living in.
What terrible heartless people some of you are. This man clearly needs help. Mental illness is no joke.
Unless you folks have direct knowledge of and documented factual information that this individual suffers from mental illness diagnosed by a mental health professional, then this guy is nothing more than a thug running from the police to escape taking responsibility for his criminal actions.
If this guy was a normal Joe who is stress out my life circumstances and believes that taking his own life will heal his problems than I’m sympathetic to his suffering and share your concern for his well-being. However, if he pulled this stunt the previous two times to allude arrest after committing a crime then if he’s stupid enough to jump off the Antioch Bridge then he does so at his own peril.
I would prefer him taking his own life then allowing him to remain free and eventually hurting a innocent man, woman, or child.
Sometimes, a thug is just a thug folks and they need to face the consequences of their actions even if it is self-imposed like jumping off a bridge.
I agree with GW. If it’s the average person jumping off a bridge, then he probably has mental health issues. Why else would he be jumping? If it’s a criminal, he could easily be “manipulating law enforcement and the general public” with his “poor me” actions. Until I have proof that he’s not just trying to avoid being arrested, I hope no empathy for him. There are consequences for criminal activity. I’m NOT buying his act. Criminals are the most manipulative people on earth. Look how many people he’s fooled on this thread. Sell it to somebody else.
I don’t think anyone’s suggesting that this person should get away with whatever actual criminal actions he may be guilty of, or that he should be running around loose with a knife, etc. It’s terrible that he’s gotten into this mindset and begun to act like this. But how many genuinely sane people do you know who have tried repeatedly to jump off a bridge? He has to stop it, and he has to stop causing problems for law enforcement, no doubt about that. Taxpayers can’t absorb these costs, and we desperately need action and attention elsewhere in the community. However, there’s no way this can be characterized as normal. It’s not “soft on crime” or “pandering to thugs” or whatever to realize that much.
You would be surprised how many guys will pull these kinds of stunts to get a lesser sentence.
If this guy has no prior medical history of mental illness, don’t be so quick to give him or anyone else the benefit of doubt. Individuals with criminal backgrounds are Master Manipulators and will use their skill set to sway public opinion to their side. This builds a history that they will use at trial to get a lesser sentence.
Have witnessed this game played over and over as a Superior Court courtroom clerk.
I’m a former Court Reporter (Superior Court), so I’ve witnessed this as well. The thing is, I was well aware of the manipulative ways of criminals by the time I was a teenager. All I had to do is watch the news and read the newspaper.
As far as “normal activity,” nothing a criminal does is normal. Wake up!
SMH……No one is perfect…..i Pray for him….
R..j..B. message should be deleted. SICK. That is just an example for those that have mental health issues to say it lightly.
I think Jennifer needs to mosey on down to her local community college and take an intro Sociology or Psychology course and understand that social deviance is very much human and normal. The most dangerous criminals don’t have sagging pants or are darker than a brown paper bag, most are in suits with ties……
White collar criminals are dangerous (financially), and violent criminals are dangerous all the way around. Social deviance “happens,” but it’s not the norm. Unless you have a criminal mindset, and all your family and friends are criminals.
all you have to do is see his picture— maybe next time it will be a family member of one of you pathoic libs out there,watch how your comments change—-
Well said. Libs are epitome of hypocrisy. There’s plenty of them here.
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