An Eventful Evening at Riverside Park

So yesterday, I decided to head over to Riverside Park after work.  I saw that the Roger Blough would be coming upriver and apparently for the last time this season.  Since the Blough is one my favorite ships, I didn't really want to miss her.

As I rounded the corner to get into the park, I saw a whole group of news vans.  I was hoping they were there because parking for the Auto Show was tough.  But then I thought, they wouldn't have to do that so something must have happened. Then I thought maybe it was a murder or something like that.  But I wasn't going to let that deter me.

So I parked my car and got out and started to head towards the river and found someone to talk to and he said that someone had fell off the Ambassador Bridge.  It was then that I noticed the police cars, helicopters and rescue boats.  It was actually pretty impressive.

The story is here, if you are interested.

 The grouping of news vans at the park.  I'm curious why there would be two vans from Channel 7 news, unless one of them wasn't working properly.  A little bit later, there was also a van from Fox News and a couple of the radio stations.  I don't think I've ever seen this much activity in the park.

 An HH-65 Dolphin Helicopter as it comes in.  I'm not sure if it was assisting in the search at this point as it didn't stay in the area too long.  I believe this one is based out of Selfridge.

 Another shot of the Dolphin.

 A State Police Helicopter assisting in the search.  This one was definitely helping with the search it stayed for a while.  I'm not sure what kind it is though.

 One of the Detroit Police boats conducting the search.  The wire coming out of the back is to a submersible craft they were using in the search effort.  If they would have pulled a body up, I probably would have stopped taking pictures.

 One of the news helicopters.

 A Coast Guard boat.  I'm not sure what kind this is but I have seen them around before.  This was hanging out downriver for a while and then it headed back up.  While I was taking this picture, it was assisting in the search effort.

 The WTGB-105 Neah Bay multi-purpose cutter.  This boat has mostly ice breaking duties but can also be used as a command platform during rescue operations.  It is normally based in Cleveland but does wander around the other Great Lakes.

 A shot of the cutter and the police boat.

 The cutter as she starts to head away.

One more shot of the gaggle of news vans.

I feel bad for the circumstances that led to this picture and I hope that they find the body of the man that fell off the Bridge so that his family can have closure.  I also hope that they find out what went wrong and are able to fix the issue.  But I will have to admit that the amount of effort that goes into a rescue/search operation is pretty amazing and I have to tip my hat to the men and women of the Coast Guard and the Detroit Police.