January 3 Bridge Jumper Identified
Ventura Resident Derek Porter Had Been Arrested in October
The man who committed suicide by jumping off the Cold Spring Bridge on January 5 has been identified as 39-year-old Derek Porter, a resident of Ventura.
In October, Porter had been involved in a high-speed chase through Port Hueneme, according to reports, where officers observed him driving a car at 100 miles per hour on surface streets. An officer tasered the man after he “ignored repeated orders to put his hands up and get out of the car,” according to the Ventura County Star.
Porter parked his car in the middle of the Cold Spring Bridge just before 3 p.m. on January 5, and jumped to his death below, marking the first suicide at the bridge this year, and the 48th since the bridge was constructed in 1963.
