Eyewitness to a suicide

Saw too many things on the jog yesterday evening with S. Gosh, too many things…

First, along Yio Chu Kang Road, just as we were about to reach the top of a gently sloping hill, I saw a small bronze snake sharing the pavement with us. It was a good thing that S didn’t see it at first; she stepped awfully close to the snake. Somehow seeing a snake on a pavement is less scary to me than seeing a snake on the MacRitchie trails. I suppose there is some sense of false security in concrete.

That was nothing compared to what we saw next though. On the junction of Buangkok Green and Yio Chu Kang Road, just as I paused my stopwatch, I saw a person fall from the block directly across the junction from us. The person hit the ground with a sound of a sandbag falling on the ground, literally a thud. I started yelling – pointed it out to S – somehow she didn’t see it happen – and started asking passerbys if they could lend us their handphone to call the ambulance. At that point I was starting to doubt my eyes if I really saw a person fall. This kind chap lent us his phone; I dialled 995, talked to the emergency man while S ran across the street to check it out. I followed her while still on the phone, saw the person lying on the ground, freaked out, and asked the emergency services to `please come quickly’.

S was so brave. I am very proud of her. We were the only persons there at that point. She said she was scared, but she went over to the person to check for a pulse on his neck. There was a weak pulse on the neck, but no pulse on the wrist. She contemplated turning him over to do CPR, but decided that she did not want to risk breaking his neck and the pulse was too weak anyway. The person was twisted in a way that suggested that he may have broken his spine and neck in the fall. We decided to wait for the ambulance to come.

There was a young Indian couple who came down from the block soon after. I saw them looking over the parapet soon after the guy jumped. He told us that he had seen `the fella’ trying to jump from his block and he had come over to stop him. He said, “What are you doing?” to the man, and the man only laughed at him. They lost sight of him and before they knew it, he had jumped over. The girl started crying. It must have been hard for them.

The police showed up quickly. They condoned off the area with police tape and a makeshift tent over the person. S and I wondered about their assumption that the man was dead, but I suppose it keeps the gawkers away. The police asked us a few questions, we told them what we saw, and eventually the paramedics showed up with a stretcher and an ECG machine. We left at this point, rather shaken, and before we continued our jog, paused to pray for him and his family.

It was all rather traumatic and I still can’t help replaying the scene of him falling from the block in my mind. The rest of the jog was quiet and sad, full of thoughts. It is vital that we build a society that allows the elderly in Singapore mobility, income, and self-esteem, a society that allows people a way out of a deep hole, whether bankruptcy, failing health, or mounting bills, a society that builds community. If not, what is the point of soaring economic growth?

The route came up to 10.4km. It is a lovely route, in spite of all the drama. We’ll probably be doing it again.