A Utah Highway Patrol officer saved a man from jumping off a highway overpass on Tuesday.
Cpl. Andrew Battenfield said he was in the “right place at the right time,” according to the Desert News.
Emergency services began receiving calls Tuesday afternoon that a man in his 30s was looking over an Interstate 15 overpass over 4500 South. As Battenfield approached the scene, he saw a man running around the freeway in what investigators believe was an attempt to get hit by a car.
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Battenfield says that when the man saw him, he went to the wall and sat on it, straddling the barrier with one leg on each side. After Battenfield turned off his siren, the man got off the wall but ran back to it as soon as he got out of his vehicle.
“I was hoping to get out of my car and talk to him first,” the officer said. “By the time I catch him, he has one leg over the wall.”
The man was able to move both legs over the wall, but Battenfield was able to hold the man until other motorists came to assist.
“You do not want to do this,” Battenfield told the man, according to the report.
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“I was in the right place at the right time,” he said. “I don’t know how much longer I could have held on to him.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available to help. Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
