I'm sorry but this just reads as attention seeking to me.
You were under no obligation to act as an impromptu police officer and didn't really achieve anything apart from traumatising yourself.
If somebody wants to top themselves then do as you were told and call 911 and let the professionals deal with it.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 8:54, 3 replies)

To be fair
the OP knew CPR and thought he could help, and that lead to his or her involvement.

Good story and excellent example of someone MTFU. Click
(Dr Skagra glorious glargzhem, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 10:46, closed)

Oh, yes, "I know CPR".
Doesn't everybody?
Where is it that they teach CPR that also includes being an impromptu volunteer police officer?
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping those who have suffered an accident but standing around directing crowds and preventing people from going on their lunch break has nothing to do with CPR and everything to do with being self-important. I'd have been very pissed off if some up-themselves prick tried to stop me getting off a lift to go to lunch because they though I couldn't handle seeing a dead body and they could so heroically protect me from it.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 11:28, closed)

The attention seeking is surely your contentious response.

( d.r._and_quinch when will you be famous?, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 13:02, closed)

Not at all.
Wouldn't you be pissed off if somebody self-importantly stopped you getting out of a lift?
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 13:35, closed)

Well:
Seems to me the OP did everything he could and should. Some jurisdictions have specific legal obligations on the public regarding conduct at emergencies; such concepts pre-date modern policing (e.g. "hue and cry" dating back to 1285).

Then there's a whole moral argument on top: Providing dignity to the deceased.

Also: No, not everybody knows CPR. Fewer still are competent at it, can actually recall it when the adrenaline kicks in, and are willing to get their hands dirty.

I'd be glad to encouraged to divert my route, if it meant avoiding a traumatic scene I couldn't help with, and avoiding (putting it bluntly) getting brains on my shoes.

He stopped many people from needless distress, and contaminating a crime scene. Frankly I'm struggling to understand your point of view.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 17:48, closed)

I think we agree on everybody knowing CPR.
The reason I mentioned that everybody knows CPR is if you ask them most people will tell you they know it either because they were taught it by an instructor (as I have been on at least two occasions I can recall) or they've "seen it on TV". When, in actual fact, they will probably do it wrong (as I have no doubt I would) because CPR is more complicated than it looks, the mouth-to-mouth has been dropped and the pressure necessary to do it will be hard to gauge the first time you do it -- I'd bet on being too gentle or breaking a rib.
So, in view of the above if the OP is properly trained then fair enough but "I know CPR" does not make you a qualified first responder.
I don't necessarily think the actions were wrong, by the way, just that taking charge in an emergency when it's not your job and you're not trained or empowered to do so by law is a little narcissistic.
I don't particularly see anything brave or useful in what the OP did either. Pulling somebody from a wreck or a burning building is a brave and useful act -- preventing people from "contaminating a crime scene" is just elevating yourself above others. That's what I have problem with -- those who meddle to give themselves importance without actually doing any real good.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Sun 4 Aug 2013, 19:17, closed)

General consensus seems to be, if you don't break ribs you're not doing it hard enough.

( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Mon 5 Aug 2013, 14:02, closed)

Most people aren't so obsessed with lunch that they'll step over a bleeding corpse to get it. As for those that are - they'd probably benefit from taking the stairs, anyhow.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 14:00, closed)

Attention seeking
Posting this on a public forum might be attention seeking but on the day it happened my initial motivation was to help the guy. You see, I didn't realize that he had jumped, I had just heard an explosion. Seeing the guy's exposed brain was traumatizing, diverting people coming down in the lift didn't deepen my trauma. If I had done nothing then about 50 people would have sauntered out of the lifts thinking only that it was great that the line at the sandwich shop was so short and then possibly tripping over the reason the shop was nearly empty.
(LangdaleBeck Langdale Beck, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 13:58, closed)

"nearly empty."
So there were still people buying sandwiches?

"Oh look there's some pulverised body parts.... Ummm, no, no mayo thanks."

Sorry.
(Misery McUglywife an attention seeking sociopathic fuckstain., Sat 3 Aug 2013, 23:18, closed)

Assuming that this is a real account, I don't think anyone that has posted one answer and three replies in two years can be considered actively seeking attention on the internet.
(cs1ca, Sat 3 Aug 2013, 18:47, closed)