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Man Dies After Driving SUV Over Cliff

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Man Dies After Driving SUV Over Cliff

By Katie DeLong

SHOREWOOD - The man who took his car over a cliff at a Shorewood park is now having his organs donated to others. Forty-one year old Scott Merton was in an SUV that plunged 100 feet in Atwater Park earlier this week. He's been declared brain dead, and the medical examiner says his organs are being harvested. Merton leaves behind five daughters, ranging in age from 9 to 26. Neighbor Mary Thomas couldn't believe her eyes. “I am amazed. I don't know what to say,” Thomas said. An SUV was on its roof at the bottom of a bluff. Police say Scott Merten, 41, of Wauwatosa barreled through Atwater Park, and drove off the bluff, landing several hundred feet below - just above the beach. Click on the link under related content to see video from the scene. Police don't know why Merten did it, but they are not ruling out a possible suicide attempt. What officials say they know for sure was this was no accident. “I don't know how fast he was going, but it’s quite a drop. Several hundred feet from the top of the bluff,” the North Shore Fire Department’s Charlie Myers said. Merten was taken by helicopter to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. He was initially listed in critical condition. The people who live near Atwater Park are just grateful no one else was hurt. The park was empty on Tuesday morning, probably because it was so cold - temperatures were in the lower 40's. “Usually there are people out on the beach, luckily not today,” neighbor William Wagner said. Atwater Park is at the end of Capitol Drive, overlooking Lake Michigan.