Two Tennessee police officers saved a man from killing himself after he suddenly jumps head-first off a bridge, body cam footage released by authorities shows.
Knoxville Police Department Lt. Chris McCarter and Deputy Brian Rehg responded to the scene after receiving calls reporting a possibly suicidal man standing on the bridge on Please Ridge Road.
The bodycam footage, taken on April 8, shows McCarter standing on the overpass when, seconds later, a young man suddenly hurls himself over the ledge. McCarter and Rehg quickly grab him by the legs and pull him up as the man appears to struggle to free himself of their grip. The video ends with the officers holding the man down on the ground.
“It happened so quick, it was just strictly a reaction when it occurred,” McCarter told HLN. “Honestly, it happened so quick, I didn’t think about anything—it was strictly a reaction when it happened … I didn’t really have time to think about it—I just reacted,” he added to the station.
“It was so quick, there was no thinking,” Deputy Rehg said. “Whatever body part I touched, is what I held onto,” he told HLN.
Knoxville Police Department said in a Facebook post: “A young man who was experiencing a crisis was saved,” adding that he “received help during and after this incident.”
The Knox County Sheriff’s Office also wrote about the incident on Facebook, saying, “Because of their vigilance and quick actions the young man is alive today.”
The office called McCarter and Rehg “true local heroes” not just because of this one incident, “but because they continue to risk their lives daily for the safety of others.”
13 Trucks Line Up Under Bridge to Prevent Man From Jumping to Death
Last year in Michigan, another suicidal bridge jump was thwarted by the police, Epoch Times reported.
Help can come in many forms when someone most needs it, and these truckers prove that with the amazing life-saving job they pulled off in early April 2018.
When a man threatened to jump off an overpass on Detroit’s Interstate 696, police called on truckers to assist them in preventing the man’s death.
“We will actually steal semi-trucks out of the crowd, and as we get the cars off the freeway we will direct the semis to another trooper that’s standing underneath the bridge, and we will start to line them up right across,” Lt. Mike Shaw said on FOX2.
The police were able to negotiate with the man and persuade him not to jump.
This tactic has been in place for 23 years, but it’s only recently been made known widely through the internet.
“There are so many other options than climbing up on that overpass,” adds Shaw.
