Deception Pass Bridge Jump Results In Death

DECEPTION PASS STATE PARK, Whidbey Island

Shouting "yahoo," a Bellingham man jumped to his death from the Deception Pass Bridge after telling friends he had leaped from higher places.

James Allen Morrow, 25, jumped Saturday afternoon from the 140-foot-high bridge north of Oak Harbor into the rough, 300-foot-deep waters that swirl between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands.

"Some boaters in the water at the bottom saw the body, and said it appeared lifeless, before it was pulled down in a whirlpool," said Sandi Quade, an Island County sheriff's communications officer.

A search failed to turn up the body.

Quade said the victim and two friends, all of whom had been drinking, were sightseeing and had stopped at the bridge, a popular tourist site. She said they were talking and the victim told of previous jumps - and then leaped.