Coroner’s office identifies suicide victim
The Fayette County Coroner’s Office has identified the man that died Saturday after jumping from the Memorial Bridge, along Route 119. Harold E. Roadman, 57, of North Cottage Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene by Fayette County Deputy Coroner Alvin Sapp.
Fayette County Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly listed the cause of death as affixation due to drowning. The death has been ruled as a suicide.
According to Connellsville police Chief Stephen Cooper, Roadman stopped his vehicle in the northbound lane of the bridge, activated the car’s flashers, exited the vehicle and then jumped from the bridge railing.
Cooper speculated that Roadman struck the river’s rocky bottom. He estimated the water level at 18-inches at the time of the incident.
Connellsville police officer Steve Shaffer, along with other witnesses to the incident, recovered Roadman’s body at Yough Park, near the Colonel Crawford Cabin that lies adjacent to Yough Park and the waterway.