Home Contra Costa County Updated: Benicia Bridge Now Open After Man Threatens to Set off Bomb, Jump

Updated: Benicia Bridge Now Open After Man Threatens to Set off Bomb, Jump

by ECT

The California Highway Patrol announced Friday around 8:00 pm that the southbound direction of the Benicia Bridge due to a  possible jumper.

CHP along with the Contra Costa County sheriffs office & Solano County Sheriff are both on scene in hopes of working out a peaceful solution.

There is no estimated timetable for re-opening and drivers are encouraged to use alternate routes.

By 8:36 pm Update

Regarding Benicia Bridge closure: expect severe traffic delays, take alternate routes, as there’s no known opening of the s/b side of the bridge. Our main concern is public safety. Our Public Information Officer will be on scene for an update on the situation between 9:30 – 10pm.

9:15 pm Update

BENICIA BRIDGE CLOSURE LATEST UPDATE – the male subject has been detained. S/B 680 on Benicia bridge is still shut down & awaiting for an explosive ordinance device team to safely go in & determine if a bomb exists, before declaring the scene safe or opening the roadway.

12:19 am Update

This evening (4/5/19), at about 7:15pm, a male subject, Rodney Brinkerhoff – 54yrs old from Benicia, stopped his pickup mid span on the right shoulder of the southbound side of the Benicia Bridge, called 911, and stated he had a bomb and was going to jump off the Bridge.

Upon CHP arrival, we immediately shut down both sides of the bridge to minimize the danger, as public safety is our main concern. (The northbound side of the Bridge was opened a short time after at about 7:45pm) Our CHP Air-Ops Airplane was overhead and assisted with describing the subject and his actions. There were no outstanding subjects in the area.

The Solano County Sheriff’s Office responded with their negotiation team and were a great resource as they were able to speak with Mr. Brinkerhoff and negotiated his safe surrender with no further incident. So thank you very much for their assistance.
We don’t know why he did this or what his motivation was as this is still an ongoing investigation. He was placed under arrest and Contra Costa CHP will be conducting the investigation.

Then the Walnut Creek Explosive ordinance detection team from Walnut Creek Police Department responded to the scene to investigate if there were any actual bombs or ordinance. They concluded that no bombs or ordinance were present and declared the scene safe. So thank you to them for their assistance with this incident.
THE BENICIA BRIDGE IS COMPLETELY OPENED as of this post.

We truly want to thank everyone on the roadways tonight for their patience as we worked with our allied agencies to ultimately bring this situation to a safe conclusion. When we have threats of this nature, we have an obligation to take them seriously. And we are very thankful tonight for everyone’s assistance and that no injuries occurred to the subject, the officers on scene, or the public.

 

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2 comments

Yo Apr 6, 2019 - 8:26 pm

Thought he had it in him to do it

Charlie Apr 7, 2019 - 1:38 pm

So? Did he say he had the bomb on him and would jump WITH the bomb attached? How many people did this nutcase inconvenience while the bridge was shut down to traffic? Will he try this crap again after he’s released? How much can the public take?

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