A Haddonfield Memorial High School junior student is missing, having apparently jumped from the Ben Franklin Bridge in the early hours of Sunday morning (April 8).
Friends of the student, who has been named publicly by family members as John (JT) Haggerty, have reported that he left a party on Saturday night after an altercation with another male.
Subsequently, Philadelphia police chased the car he was driving from Old City onto the Ben Franklin Bridge. It has been reported that the driver stopped the car on the bridge, got out, and jumped into the Delaware River.
A day-long search by police and marine rescue units will continue on Monday.
Superintendent of Schools Joe O'Brien said that counselors will be present at the High School and Tatem School (which JT attended) when schools reopen on Tuesday morning, after the Spring Break.
Click to link to a report by Bridget Smith and Meg Huelsman in the Courier-Post: "Athlete missing in jump from span."
Click to link to a report by Jan Hefler in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Police chase ends in leap from bridge."
Click to link to Channel 6's Sunday morning report.
Click to link to the Courier-Post's initial report, "Divers search for person in Delaware River," posted online on Sunday afternoon.
Haddonfield Online first reported the news early on Sunday afternoon, as follows, with links to the initial Channel 6 and Courier-Post Online reports.
Police and Coast Guard rescue units are searching for an individual, believed to be a junior student at Haddonfield Memorial High School, who jumped into the Delaware River from the Ben Franklin Bridge in the early hours of Sunday (April 8).
Friends of the student have reported that he left a party on Saturday night after an altercation with another male.
Channel 6 news broke the story on Sunday morning, referring to the individual simply as "the driver" of a car that Philadelphia police chased from Old City onto the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Haddonfield Online will report details as they become available from authoritative sources.
