The man who plummeted from an Interstate 526 bridge into the Ashley River this morning was wanted by the Mt. Pleasant Police Department on a charge of grand larceny. He went over the bridge’s concrete barrier after police arrived at the scene and realized there was a warrant out for his arrest.
According to an incident report from the Charleston Police Department, officers were dispatched to the Westmoreland Bridge around 8:10 a.m. in response to a disabled motorist who was possibly thinking about jumping from the bridge. When an officer asked the man why he was sitting by the edge near his white Ford truck, he said, “I ran out of gas. I’m waiting on my wife. She is bringing me some,” according to the report.
The officer asked the man to put his feet on the ground and hand over his driver’s license. The man was identified as Corey Lee Wyland, a 32-year-old self-employed plumber whose home is near the bridge in West Ashley. As it turned out, Charleston and Mt. Pleasant police detectives were also on the scene at Wyland’s house executing a search warrant. Mt. Pleasant police had a warrant for Wyland’s arrest on a charge of grand larceny.
But before the police on the bridge could even approach Wyland to arrest him, he had “pushed himself off the side of the bridge,” according to the report. Police looked over the edge and could see him swimming with the current of the water. A boat was launched from a nearby marina to bring Wyland to shore, and he was then taken to MUSC for treatment. After Wyland was treated at the hospital, a Mt. Pleasant police officer took him into custody. A Charleston police spokesman says the department has no additional charges against Wyland.
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