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Walnut Street Bridge closed for suicide investigation, police say

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Walkers cross the Walnut Street Bridge on April 26. The bridge closed for a few hours on Monday, Aug. 19, as police investigated a suicide.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Walkers cross the Walnut Street Bridge on April 26. The bridge closed for a few hours on Monday, Aug. 19, as police investigated a suicide. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Walkers cross the Walnut Street Bridge on April 26. The bridge closed for a few hours on Monday, Aug. 19, as police investigated a suicide.

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The Walnut Street Bridge was closed Monday while police investigated a suicide, according to a police spokesperson.

The emergency closure of the walking bridge was announced shortly before 4 p.m. by Chattanooga’s public works division.

(READ MORE: Chattanooga receives bids for multimillion-dollar revamp of Walnut Street Bridge)

“The suicide began on the bridge and was completed upon the person hitting the ground,” police spokesperson Sgt. Victor Miller said in an email. “It was not on the river.”

Miller said information is limited and investigators are still working to notify the person’s family.

The bridge closed to all pedestrian and bicycle traffic due to an ongoing police investigation, the announcement said.

The closure lasted around three hours, public works spokesperson Justin Strickland said in an email, although officials had estimated the bridge would be closed for two hours.

Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.