BUTLER TWP — A 32-year-old Butler man was badly injured Wednesday afternoon when he jumped in front of a car on Route 8 in an apparent suicide attempt, authorities said.

“Numerous witnesses told us they saw him dive, leap, jump in front of the car,” Butler Township police Lt. Matthew Pearson said this morning. “That’s not an accident.”

The man was taken by ambulance to the LifeFlight base at the Butler County Airport in neighboring Penn Township, and flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

The extent of his injuries and his condition were not known this morning.

Police said the man was standing along the right northbound lane just south of the Picklegate Bridge, when he deliberately jumped in front of a Dodge four-door sedan.

The driver, a Butler woman who police did not identify, apparently saw the man on the side of the road and had slowed down.

“She tried to brake and swerve,” Pearson said. “She did everything in her power to avoid him.”

The right side of the car, which was in the right northbound lane, struck the man.

He was in the middle of that lane when rescuers got to him.

The driver was not injured but she was “shaken up” after the crash, Pearson said.