Related Links >>
Latest Stories >>
State of TV: `Dancing with the Stars,' `American Idol,' Rachel Maddow and more Your weekly dose of TV news
Login >>
By Archive
from Salem Monthly, Section News
Posted on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 04:07:07 PM PDT
Salem man tries to put life back together after bridge incidentHe walked into the office carrying a cup of steaming black coffee and a worn photo album, followed by his friend Bruce Wolfe. He is a compact, muscular man with short cropped hair and a square jaw. He seemed tight-lipped and tense but he surprised me with a ready smile when we shook hands.
As he sat down at the table and put down the coffee cup and photo album his hands were visibly shaking. It could have been the caffeine; maybe he was nervous about the interview. After all, he was about to expose himself once again to public scrutiny and criticism. It might have been the stress of his troubled circumstances, some of which he admits were the result of his bad choices.
He wanted this interview. He wanted to tell his story. He is angry at how he feels he has been portrayed since that day in June 2005 when he threatened to hang himself from the Marion Street Bridge, holding up traffic and keeping local law enforcement busy for 15 hours. He knows the public is curious about him and why he so publicly tried to commit suicide. This is part of the mystery of Shawn Dell Reeves — a man who appears to be attracted to the gaze of the public but who is frustrated by his lack of control at how the public perceives him.
Why Shawn Reeves did what he did?He was eager to share the pictures in his photo album with us. Pictures of a happy family: kids sitting on his lap, visiting the ocean, birthdays.
“I’d work 9-10 hours a day and watch my kids for 6 hours, workout five days a week. You know — do everything I needed to do at the house,” Reeves said. “I still did everything I needed to do.”
He was candid about conflicts he had experienced at work that led him to deal with anger management. He took medication while learning to handle his anger more effectively.
Trouble for Reeves began when his marriage started to fall apart. During the divorce his wife got restraining orders barring him from seeing or contacting her and their three children: a son 13, one daughter 12, and their youngest daughter 4.
One of the things that bothers Reeves most about his situation is the way the court system seems to work.
“When the first restraining order came up, the ex-wife simply went to court and says, ‘He’s threatening me — he’s threatening my kids.’ It’s just her word against mine,” Reeves said. “For her to be able to go into court and get a restraining order against me on her word alone is insanity.”
Reeves was sent to jail for 45 days when his ex-wife accused him in court of threatening their children. He swears he was never abusive.
“When I had my family I was working for 17 years, mainly physical jobs, and for a long time I was a sole provider,” Reeves said. “I was 35 years old and never had any trouble. I was never in jail. It was the first time I had any trouble with the law.”
Reeves did not attend his divorce hearing and he was granted only four hours of monitored visitation each week with his children. Reeves would have to pay the state $18 an hour for each visit.
“I don’t think four hours a week is a father. I think it’s more beneficial that whoever the ex-wife is with now, he is the father, since my kids love this person so much. It was real tough considering I was in a mental institution when I read that from both my kids. How wonderful the guy is.”
Reeves has not seen his children for a year and a half and he hasn’t spoken with them since Christmas last year. He had been in contact with them, and according to Reeves the court was aware of it, however he was informed by law enforcement that he was in violation of a restraining order.
“Daddy’s gone.”
The morning of the day on the bridge Reeves appeared in court to fight that restraining order. When it was upheld Reeves broke down.
“I was very distraught thinking I wouldn’t see my kids for quite some time. I wasn’t thinking of much of anything other than ending my life because without my children there is no life for me.”
Reeves was visiting his mother who lives in downtown Salem. He didn’t have a car so he walked to the bridge.
He climbed over the side of the bridge and after tying a rope to a girder and looping the other end over his head he looked down at the river.
“I thought, ‘My God, this is hard. This is not very damn easy.’ Everyone says suicide is the easy way out. No it’s not. I don’t care what anyone says.”
Police were there almost immediately and blocked traffic which came to a standstill. Reeves thinks that police over-reacted.
“I was unarmed. I didn’t have any weapons or anything else. I was just a person who wanted to end their own life. I didn’t think that merited blocking off four lanes of traffic. I was on the outside of the bridge.”
People gathered in the park below to watch. Three or four policemen began talking with Reeves, usually two at a time.
“They all seemed to have the same damn story. They all had daughters in the hospital surviving cancer, trying to get at me through my kids. How they’re cops and never get time with their family. The same old story over and over again. It was a non-stop conversation for 15 hours.”
Reeves said their attempts to manipulate him into getting off the bridge only angered him further.
“They talked about the past and how I could see my kids. There ain’t no way in hell you got that kind of power. The courts said I can’t see them. They were not honest at all. They said I wasn’t breaking any laws, but I was doing something wrong.”
Reeves revealed a sense of humor about this bizarre situation as well.
“They kept offering me something to drink and then if I have to go to the bathroom I’m going to go off the bridge, and then they’d give me a ticket for that,” Reeves said laughing. “So there was no way I was going to drink or eat anything.”
One of the most difficult moments for Reeves was when police played a recording of his youngest daughter saying, “Daddy’s gone.”
Eventually Reeves became too hungry and tired and he let his guard down.
It was 3:27 a.m.
“I hadn’t eaten anything. At one point I laid my head down and started to doze off. And that’s what I was hoping for — that I’d doze off and fall off the bridge.”
But instead of falling off he was grabbed by police.
“My hands were resting on one of the cement beams and I laid my head over and all of a sudden I realized there were a bunch of hands on me, yanking me over. As a matter of fact, it startled me so much I screamed. It scared the living crap out of me. And that’s when they got me.”
Several policemen wrestled Reeves to the ground pinning him down and tasering him once even though he says he was not resisting.
While standing behind one of the police cars a policeman whispered in his ear, “I hope this was enough attention for you.”
What has happened to Shawn Reeves since that day
“They did a mandatory lockdown for 10 or 11 days which they do to a person who tries to commit suicide. That morning they sent me to the hospital and then the mental hospital,” Reeves said. “When I was there I had some talks with a psychiatrist but nothing in-depth. He said I was part bi-polar so they wanted to try lithium on me and I’d never tried anything like that before.”
After being in the hospital for several days Reeves was sent to jail and he tried to get other medication.
“They said that since I was no longer in the hospital they couldn’t help me,” Reeves said.
Initially he was on suicide watch in jail and he was put under 24-hour surveillance. He feels the system did nothing to help him and that many in the system have been more interested in punishing him as a criminal than helping someone with a problem.
“There has been no help whatsoever. It’s only made the difficulty I was going through even more difficult by trying to press these charges against me.”
Courtland Geyer with the Marion County District Attorney’s office said that the criminal system does deal with a lot of mental health issues for which it is ill-equipped and that in a perfect world, Reeves’ case “would not have slipped into the criminal justice system.”
When Reeves eventually was released from jail he disappeared. Many have wondered why he didn’t appear for several court hearings scheduled over the next few months. It is ironic that after such a public display of his despair he withdrew into utter solitude, living in a tent in the woods for several months.
“I didn’t see a soul for three months. I was obviously needing to deal with my stress over the loss of seeing my kids. You’re in your own little misery and everyone deals with it the best they can.”
The turning point came when Reeves met Bruce Wolfe who was working with the West Valley Gleaners, volunteers who gather and distribute crops and food for the elderly and disabled. When one of his associates met and spoke with Reeves, Wolfe was intrigued.
“It’s funny, I remembered that time on the bridge and my heart went out to him then. And when I found out this was who that was, it was kind of amazing,” Wolfe said. “It just kind of touched my heart and it clicked from there. After we talked for a bit he told me he had prayed for an angel and that he felt I was that angel. We didn’t feel like strangers.
From the first time I met him he’s seemed more like an old friend.”
Wolfe convinced Reeves to come back and face his legal battles and to start putting his life back together. He has helped Reeves with moral and financial support, posting his bail and helping with other court expenses.
“He’s my best friend,” Reeves said. “I’ve never had a better friend in my life.”
What does the future hold for Shawn Reeves?
Reeves’ next court date is January 8 in which he faces misdemeanor charges related to the bridge incident including disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, second-degree criminal trespass and two counts of recklessly endangering another person.
He said his lawyer has suggested that a jury trial may not be a good idea because with all of the negative publicity they might not find an unbiased jury.
That publicity also has impacted his ability to get a job.
“The Statesman must have gotten hung up in traffic because they have had a vendetta ever since I got on that bridge. I don’t know murderers that have gotten this much publicity.”
Reeves believes the press has characterized him as someone who is crazy and suffering extreme mental illness, and that he is a “lazy slob” who has been out of work for an extended period of time.
“They’ll put their spin on my story,” Reeves said.
Asked what the public is missing in his story he responded, “I think the biggest issue is I’m being taken away from my family — my kids.
That’s the biggest issue with me. I care about my relationship with my kids. I was a loving, caring father. And it’s all wasted.”
Reeves will have to go through a year of monitored visitation with his children and then he can fight this decision in court if he chooses.
About the consequences of his actions Reeves says, “I’m very sorry people got held up in traffic. That was not my intent whatsoever. When I get upset I tend to react to something.
“Unfortunately, getting up on that bridge was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
Like this story? Share it!
Post A Comment| WHO IS SHAWN DELL REEVES AND WHY DID HE DO THAT? | 1 comment
Post A Comment| WHO IS SHAWN DELL REEVES AND WHY DID HE DO THAT? | 1 comment
