When drivers saw a man at the top of the Hernando de Soto Bridge in Memphis, Tenn., they assumed the worst, but they were wrong. As reported by WMC Action News 5, electrician David Stephens was simply changing the lamps on the bridge, which he’s been doing for more than 10 years.
Stephens, who works for Collierville, Tenn.-based Haynes and Howell Electric Co, is contracted with the City of Memphis to change 200 sodium vapor lamps along the iconic Hernando de Soto Bridge.
When he's working, he spends 6-8 hours 109 feet above the water.
Although Stephens was wearing safety gear, a passerby who spotted him on the bridge doing his job assumed he was in danger. According to Stephens, this is first time he has been mistaken for a jumper in more than a decade of changing the lamps.
Source: WMC Action News 5
