Body identified as student who jumped from bridge
A body found last weekend on a bank of the Delaware River in Pennsauken was identified yesterday as that of a Haddonfield Memorial High School student who leaped from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge five weeks ago, authorities said.
A body found last weekend on a bank of the Delaware River in Pennsauken was identified yesterday as that of a Haddonfield Memorial High School student who leaped from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge five weeks ago, authorities said.
John T. "J.T." Haggerty Jr., 17, was a popular member of the football and wrestling teams. Early on Easter, he was spotted driving driving erratically in Philadelphia and led police on a chase. The pursuit ended when Haggerty abandoned his car at mid-span and jumped to the water more than 130 feet below.
A boater spotted the body Sunday along Petty's Island and notified Pennsauken police. The body was unrecognizable, said a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. Identification was made through dental records. The county medical examiner ruled the cause of death as drowning and the manner of death as suicide.
- Sam Wood