By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – For dozens of people driving from Auburn into Lewiston Wednesday, the sight of a man leaping from the Veterans Bridge was cause for immediate alarm.

For a pair of men wading toward shore in the river below, it was really no big deal.

“That? That was nothing,” said 40-year-old Ed Duguay, minutes after he swam from the river and crawled onto land. “It was a good jump, but I want to do something higher.”

What Duguay, of Lewiston, referred to as “nothing” was a drop estimated at 70 feet from the bridge to the Androscoggin River below. He estimated he was free-falling for about four seconds before he splashed down.

“The water tasted a little funny, but that was all right,” Duguay said.

Just another afternoon of free-falling fun. And then the police came. And firefighters. And rescue workers with a boat.

The 4 p.m. report of a man jumping from the bridge sent emergency crews scurrying on both sides of the river. Believing they might find a badly injured person in the river, crews prepared to launch a rescue boat. Teams in Auburn coordinated with teams in Lewiston to determine the quickest means of reaching the victim.

What police officers found after hiking through the woods near Riverside Cemetery was Duguay putting on dry clothes and two friends looking on with admiration.

“I apologized to the officers,” Duguay said. “I didn’t mean to cause any problems. It’s just that if there’s anything up high with water down below, I’ll jump.”

Tom Cunneen of Mechanic Falls, Duguay’s 36-year-old friend, nodded in agreement. He had jumped off the same bridge minutes before Duguay.

“We’re just thrill seekers,” Cunneen said. “We’re just a couple of guys who like to jump off bridges.”

Elisia LaBelle of Lewiston was standing with the two men on a dirt trail winding away from the river. She also nodded, but she looked less certain. Labelle is Duguay’s girlfriend and she had watched him make the dizzying jump from bridge to water.

“It was very nerve-wracking,” she said. “I was scared. I just about tore the nails out of my fingers. But then I saw him and I thought: Wow. He did it. He did it, that crazy fool.”

Duguay and Cunneen said they are lifelong pals who share common interests. They like to ride mountain bikes on rough terrain and they like to make leaps from high places.

“Sometimes we’ll do back flips, that kind of thing,” Cunneen said. “But you have to know how to do it. You don’t just jump.”

“I like to swan dive,” Duguay said. “I like to be theatrical.”

The men insisted they had checked the depth of the Androscoggin before leaping Wednesday afternoon. They had learned from their mistakes. In a recent jump from a trestle in Mechanic Falls, the precarious pair jumped 30 feet into just five feet of water.

“That one hurt like hell,” Duguay said.

Cunneen cracked a couple of ribs. Duguay snapped his thumb. And yet they continue jumping from trestles, rock ledges and any other place where open air leads to water.

Duguay and Cunneen talked about a year’s worth of jumping from high places. They talked about adventures on their mountain bikes and the possibilities of future adventures.

“I wanted to jump from the bridge with my bike today,” Duguay said, “but the railing was too high. I would have needed a ramp.”

Lewiston police who found the trio next to the river sent them along with a warning. And they had additional cautions for anyone else considering seeking such grand adventures.

“Many people engage in this type of activity and many people are seriously injured or killed,” said police Lt. Tom Avery, also a trained medical technician. “There is extreme danger of head, neck and spinal injuries. There is extreme danger of drowning. It’s just not safe.”

Duguay and Cunneen insist they don’t encourage others to make leaps of faith, either. It’s just something they do together. On occasion, it begins as a dare.

“He always wants to one-up me,” Cunneen said, cocking a thump at his pal. “And that’s why we jump off bridges.”

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