Billy Joe McAllister did not jump from this Tallahatchie Bridge

Reports circulated in New Albany earlier this week that a man had jumped from the bridge that carries Highway 178 (Bankhead Street) across the Tallahatchie River downtown.

A passing motorist called 911 from a cell phone and said a man had jumped or was about to jump. The story spread quickly by word-of-mouth, social media and other sources of undependable “information.”

New Albany Police Department (NAPD) Chief Chris Robertson told NEMiss.News, “It was all a misunderstanding.”

Robertson said a utility company employee was working on the lights on the bridge when a motorist called 911 with the ‘man- jumping-off-of-the-bridge’ observation. The man did not “jump into the muddy (and shallow) water” as in Bobbie Gentry’s monster 1967 hit “Ode to Billie Joe,” but merely went on with his work.

Although it turned out to be a false alarm, Robertson said he was thankful that a member of the public was alert to what appeared to them to be a person in need of help and made the call.

The chief did not give us the name of the utility company worker on the bridge, but did say that the man’s name was not “Billy Joe McAllister.”