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March 19, 2008
Developing: Person Falls from Building, Dies on Ventura Blvd*
Taken from the 8th Floor of the City National Bank Building | Photo by Mitch Oberstein with an iPhone
*Update, 6:42 p.m.: A maintenance man familiar with the building has said they found an apparent suicide note.
A witness is reporting to LAist that it appears a person has fallen from a building at 14724 Ventura Blvd. in The Village area of Sherman Oaks. "There's streaks of blood and just a sheet covering him," said Mitch Oberstein, an employee in the building.
It appears the person fell from the City National Bank Building and other witnesses were speculating the they came from the roof or the 12th floor penthouse where a talent agency is located. Employees apparently have building have access to smoke on the roof.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded but an LAFD official said he had no comment, stating this is a police matter. According to Officer French of the LAPD, the call came in at about 4:00 p.m. and appears to be a suicide.
Also: Reports are coming in that a construction worker committed suicide at Mel Gibson's Agoura Hills home today.
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Traffic is being re-routed around that area of Ventura and it's a nightmare. It took me 40 minutes to make my 3.5 mile commute from Sherman Oaks to Studio City.
By the way, kudos on breaking this story. I haven't seen it anywhere else.
I think you guys are great for covering this story. I've been wondering all day what the hold up was on Ventura Blvd that made traffic hell for everyone. I think that this person was very selfish for their action. I mean, the trama this has caused for the people that saw it and the stress it caused everyone else. Though again, great job for the cover on the story.
I think the guy who took the iPhone picture lacks a bit of humanity. First off a suicide is bad enough for any family to deal with. Having this guy snap a picture for a blog is pretty sad.
Also - "onewithstarbucks" - the word is trauma not "trama"
I wouldn't go after the photographer for a lack of humanity so much as I would the first commenter who calls this incident a nightmare not because of the tragic loss of life, but because he or she was stuck in the traffic that was impacted because of it. For a bonus the commenter comes back a few minutes later and offers congrats for this site breaking the news. That kind of desensititized response just chills me.
For what it's worth, we discussed whether or not to use this photo and concluded that, although it may come off as tactless to some, it shows only blood and no identifying characteristics and is both newsworthy and within our journalistic standards to publish.
Everybody has a camera at the ready these days and it's unfair to accuse someone of "lacking a bit of humanity" for shooting an eyewitness photo and submitting it voluntarily (and unsolicited) for publication. Unless you're referring to the use of the iPhone as opposed to a higher quality photographic device ;-)
We don't like to use the MSM's often too extreme (live helicopter shots at the scene) and often too conservative (no blood on our soldiers) imagery as a barometer or an excuse for publishing certain content.
Reader submissions, interaction, and commentary is highly encouraged at LAist -- this is a publication of and for the community. Keep it comin'!
I work in this building and was outside not more than 50 feet from where this person fell about 5 minutes before it happened but another friend of mine that works in the bldg didn't have such luck and was right there when it happened, thank god she's alive and that the jumper didn't fall on her but emotionally the poor thing is a mess now. We could see the body from our 4th floor suite and I'm having a hard time getting that image out of my head. Suicide is the most selfish act a person can do and it effects every single solitary person that knows the victim or had the misfortune to be around when that person decided to end their life.
We don't know any more about this than we did yesterday but I'm hearing that it was a woman when initially we thought it was a man.
Will Campbell - I didn't call this situation a nightmare because of the traffic. I said the traffic was a nightmare.
I do think LAist deserves congrats for breaking the story of the traffic situation, since it's something that impacts lots of people and it wasn't reported anywhere else. Street closures on a major street - for any reason - should be reported. You hear reports when it's a sinkhole or a traffic accident, this should be reported as well.
As far as the reason for the traffic problems - yes, this a tragic situation. I am intimately acquainted with the tragedy of suicide as I've had 2 cousins and a close friend kill themselves. Honestly I thought it was a given that the situation is tragic and I didn't need to state it. Obviously the fact that my commute sucked yesterday is far less important than the fact that people just lost a loved one.
That said, their tragedy is a private tragedy. The fact that a major street is closed is a public matter and should be reported as such.
It never ceases to amaze me how nit-picky people can be. Or maybe we're just so callous, ourselves, that we automatically assume that some one who basically admits that prior to knowing about about a suicide that'd just occured, was simply frustrated with traffic, is being insensitive. Also funny when we have to point out to another that he spelled trauma wrong, even though everything else was decently put. I suppose typos are completely unacceptable. Get a life.
But anyway, yes. It was highly selfish of this person to do what she did. That's kind of the idea behind suicide. It was her final act on this Earth. Apparently it was something she really felt that she had to do. And I consider it no different than when I can't get to my bank (which happens to be close by the Federal Building), because a bunch of people want to have a protest on my payday. Hey that's life. Guess what? You're going to be inconvenienced by other's selfishness, no matter how selfless they try and make it seem. Do you know why? Because you are selfish too. We all are. This was a very surreal thing that not a lot of us get to experience as spectators. I only think of how dire this person perceived her straights to be & imagine what she was going through that gave her the balls to do something so bold. I hope where ever he/ she is, that she's happier.
I wonder why it is, though that this was deemed unnews-worthy by the local media. I guess the loss of a human life in such a way that it affects an entire community isn't as important as who's blowing whom, or how much acertain governor paid for a prostitute (too much in my opinion) or what Obama is doing to distance himself from his racist reverend. It's just too bad. It's really just too bad. To the family of this person, my heart goes out to you & my prayers are with you and the deceased. God bless us all.
Suicidal people are usually suffering from major depressive disorder, or bipolar depression.
"Selfish?" Right. Please. You try feeling like whaleshit every waking minute of your life. Sorry that this person, who is deserving of respect and was clearly at the end of his or her rope, "traumatized" the people around them by oh-so-inconveniently killing themself.
Jesus fucking Christ, people. You're the ones who are selfish.
I am so sorry for this tragedy. My sincere thoughts prayers go out to this woman’s family who are grieving the loss of her. I do agree though this act was quite selfish. Why put other people’s lives at danger just to take your own? There were two women sitting outside when this unsuspecting body dropped from the sky just a few feet from them splattering blood and brain tissue all over the two women. One of the ladies had to be taken to the psych ward. I am sure those women may have long term psychological issues because of this act. Thank God they were not killed. I take classes in this building and know many people that are traumatized by this incident. I have no problems with Mitch taking the picture from the eighth floor. I think this woman chose to kill herself in a public place for a reason. I think she wanted this attention perhaps to let everyone know the pain she was in and to make a statement about how negatively she felt about life. If she wanted to have privacy at her death she would have committed suicide privately.