Dad Jumps From Bridge With 2 Kids; Then, a 'Miracle'

A father parked his vehicle on a New Jersey overpass, grabbed his two young sons in his arms, maneuvered around an 8-foot-high suicide prevention fence, then jumped, killing himself on Monday, police say. The boys, ages 1 and 3, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. An hour earlier, around 7pm, the unidentified man had argued with his wife and threatened to hurt their children in Pequannock before driving away with the two boys in a white SUV, reports CBS New York.

Police tracked the vehicle to the overpass on Interstate 287 in Wanaque Township using the man's cellphone signal, but they found it empty, report ABC 7 and NJ.com. The man's body was then found beneath the overpass in a wooded area near the Wanaque River. His children, found conscious, were taken to a hospital with concussions, per WPIX. The youngest also suffered a bruised lung. A police officer says it's a "miracle" they survived at all, adding, "I was expecting the worst outcome when I arrived at the scene, and I was amazed last night and even this morning on the condition of the children." They reportedly fell between 20 and 100 feet, per the Washington Post; the distance wasn't immediately clear in the dark. (More New Jersey stories.)