Two young boys from Pequannock, N.J., are expected to make a full recovery after surviving a jump from a Route 287 bridge with their father who died in the leap, police said Tuesday.
The man, whom police have not identified, "intentionally jumped" with his two children in a wooded area near the Wanaque River Monday night. His car was found by police on southbound Route 287, state police said.
The children, ages 1 and 3, were taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, N.J., where they remained Tuesday under observation.
"They are expected to make a full and complete recovery," said Pequannock Township Capt. Christopher DePuyt.
Pequannock township police received a call at 6:55 p.m. Monday from a woman who lives on Greenview Drive who said she was arguing with her husband and that he had stated that he was going to harm the children, police said.
"It was a verbal dispute and it escalated where he made these threats against the children and the wife took it seriously and called police," said DePuyt on Tuesday morning.
DePuyt said the man removed the children from the home, placed them in a vehicle and left the area.
Officers gathered information including vehicle information and cell phone data and contacted the missing person unit of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey State Police, Depuyt said.
Police were able to locate the man in Wanaque through the GPS signal on his mobile phone, police said.
State troopers from the Totowa Station were notified at 8:08 p.m. of a "possible suicide attempt" by the Pequannock police, according to a news release from the state police. The initial report indicated that the man "may have jumped into the Wanaque River with his two children."
State and local police were dispatched to the scene, and Wanaque police found the man's car at milepost 56.4 in their township. Pequannock police said in a press release that the car was parked on a shoulder of Route 287 southbound on a bridge.
Police officers from Pequannock, Wanaque, and Oakland searched a wooded area underneath the bridge, DePuyt said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and the children were injured but conscious, and transported to the hospital.
There is no history of police responding to the residence in the past on a domestic dispute call, DePuyt said.
"We have not responded to that residence," he said. "There have been no calls for that."