The man's "reckless behaviour" was an attempt to gain publicity, police say.
A 57-year-old man has been arrested after pretending to be injured on the East Tāmaki overbridge on Auckland's Southern Motorway.
Emergency services were called to reports of a man who appeared injured at about 7.46am on Monday.
Police arrived to find the man "who was pretending to be injured as part of what we can only describe as reckless behaviour in an attempt to gain publicity", Inspector Danny Meade said.
Traffic was unusually heavy during peak-hour as a result.
There were a few people at work today who drove past this. One woman was crying when she got to work as she thought it was real.
Man had suspended himself from the bridge to look like he hanged himself. Moving to make it look like he wasn't dead yet.
All this to raise awareness about suicide prevention.
How many children in cars saw this I wonder....
Suicide is a serious problem in NZ, but, there are more child friendly ways to raise awareness.