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Osceola Community Saddened By Man Drowning

An Evart man is dead after he jumped off a bridge and drowned. 

Deputies got the call just before 7 that a man was in the Muskegon River.
They rushed to the 50th Avenue Bridge in Sylvan Township in Osceola County. 

"I just saw all the police cars and everything coming along then I found out someone jumped off the bridge," said Keith Dale. 

People who have homes around the 50th Avenue Bridge say this isn’t the first time they’ve seen someone jump off it. 

"3 or 4 years old I’ve seen them jump off in there I can’t believe they would do it and I’ve seen people as old as 70 jump off in there it’s a lot of different people," Keith said. 

"It gets really bad the weekend of the Fourth you’ve got people lined up at the bridge to jump and just watch them and hope they all come back up," said Chelsey Hendrickson. 

Chelsea Hendrickson says she’s never seen someone die here before. 

"But you hear of people dying so that’s what all the dates on the bridge are for all the people that have died out there," she said. 

Deputies say a man jumped and got hurt after hitting the water. The man told bystanders who tried pulling him to shore, but the rivers current was too strong. 

"It’s just too dangerous. It’s a very small pocket of deep water there and it’s shallow on both sides of it and if you go down in there pretty good chance you might hit the wrong spot," said Keith. 

An hour and a half later crews found the man near the bridge and pronounced him dead at the scene. 

"It is sad. You don’t like to see anyone die. Bad enough to get hurt let alone die over this," Keith said. 

Deputies say there was alcohol being consumed, but they don’t know if the man was drunk. They’re waiting on toxicology results. 

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