As a bus was passing the Ivanhoe Hotel at Main St. and National tonight at about 10 p.m., a man came flying out the window, landing on the sidewalk. He had reportedly jumped from the third floor window of the hotel where he had a room.
Police and ambulance workers arrived on this foggy night and the body was covered with a white sheet. Yellow police tape cordoned off the scene, but the Main St. door of the Ivanhoe Pub remained open and customers continued to go in and out.
Police and ambulance workers arrived on this foggy night and the body was covered with a white sheet. Yellow police tape cordoned off the scene, but the Main St. door of the Ivanhoe Pub remained open and customers continued to go in and out.
A man who lives in the Ivanhoe and works in the bar stood outside on the sidewalk and said of the apparent suicide victim, "It's not the first time he's tried." He said the man, whom he estimated to be around 60 years old, previously "drove into the cement barriers at the sky train". He knew the man personally as he was a "regular" in the bar and had lived in a room at the hotel for about five months. The man had previously lived in Ontario.
Photo above was taken from inside the Ivanhoe pub, looking out onto Main St. The curtains were closed but people could still peak out. The elevator of the Ivanhoe had been out of order for a month so the man had been getting assistance from others at the Ivanhoe. "We used to help him up and down the stairs with his walker," the worker said. The worker seemed genuinely saddened by the jump, calling it "a waste of life".
5 comments:
I wonder if the man who jumped bothered to look out the window to see if he'd land on anyone below,perhaps killing or crippling them if he landed on them? Suicides usually don't care about details like that.
Feeling helpless and dependent on your neighbors does not help anyone's frame of mind. The Ivanhoe should fix the bloody elevator. Having to have people help me with my walker up and down the stairs would be depressing for me too....what a shame, and yes, terrible for the people around him when he jumps, no matter if they actually got hit or not, it's affecting.
Thanks for covering this. We passed by the body on a bus and wondered what had happened. I also found it strange that the body laid out for so long.
Thanks for posting this. I think all of us neighbours wondered what happened the other night.
It's very sad.
Maybe those who knew the man can arrange something like a memorial service for him in the pub at the Ivanhoe. A memorial service is for the living, a way to meet others who knew and perhaps cared fir the dead. It's a way of finding that one is not alone in the world after all.
Post a Comment