Dangerous Waters Impede Search for TZ Jumper

The search for a man who leaped off the Tappan Zee Bridge Wednesday afternoon at about 2:53 p.m. has been called off until Thursday morning due to dangerous water and high winds, rescue officials said.

The man—Scott Uzzo, a 24-year-old from Hawthorne—parked his sedan on the north-bound portion of the bridge, east of the span's superstructure, and jumped off, state police in Tarrytown said.

Rescue authorities launched at least four boats from the Rockland and Westchester sides of the bridge to recover the jumper around 3 p.m. on Wednesday, but by 4 p.m. they called the search off. 

Tarrytown Fire Chief John McGee terminated the rescue search from his side as Rockland teams were doing the same from the other side of the choppy Hudson. He said there were multiple witnesses of the jumper from 400 feet east of the center span, tower 193. "We turn it over to the state troopers now," McGee said.

"It's very rough out there," said Tarrytown Second Assistant Fire Chief Domenic Morobito, Jr. as he got off one of the rescue boats at the Tarrytown launch. "We were getting pounded around. There's lots of units out there. We scoured up and down, both sides, in and out. Water was coming up on the boat." 

J.P. Natkin, Westchester Deputy Fire Coordinator, said, "At this point, it's not a rescue, it's a recovery. It doesn't make sense to jeopardize any more people. You'd get hypothermia fast out there. And the tide is out." 

The bridge last saw action on Nov. 13, when an armed and suicidal man . He was brought to safety.

One week prior, a Rockland man on a homemade harness to protest local government. The man, Michael Davitt, was brought down after four hours and released on $500 bail. Watch an interview with him .