It was a wild scene at a bridge in suburban New York City as a protester dangled off the bridge for hours to protest being fired from a government job.

Michael Davitt, 54, drove a van onto the Tappan Zee Bridge Monday morning, stopped and lowered himself by rope from the deck. Carrying a banner that read "Rockland Executive Legislature Cover Up Retaliation," he remained there in a harness for three hours, 65 feet above the Hudson River, backing up traffic for miles.

State police eventually began lowering Davitt to a police boat below, but he jumped into the river from a height of about 10 feet. After swimming around for a few minutes he got onto the boat and was quickly handcuffed and arrested.

Davitt was fired from his job as a counselor with the Rockland County mental health department  in 2008. He has been protesting on and off since then.

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