13 truckers prevented a man’s suicide early Tuesday morning after lining up beneath the bridge he was perched on, shortening his potential fall.
The incident happened on April 24th at approximately 12:45 a.m. in Oak Park, Michigan.
According to Fox 2 Detroit, the Michigan State Police received a call reporting a man standing on the edge of the Coolidge bridge across Interstate 696, threatening suicide.
The police department then closed both the east and westbound lanes of the highway at Coolidge and began making calls, asking truckers to drive their big rigs and park them beneath the bridge, not only to shorten the distance the man could fall but to assure him that someone cares.
A total of 13 semi trucks showed up and parked beneath the bridge, creating a sort of second floor, as police tried to talk the unnamed man down.
After speaking with negotiators from multiple local police departments for several hours, the man walked himself off the bridge and returned to safety, where he was then transported to a nearby hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
I-696 was reopened at around 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.