In LaPorte Indiana, a pair of police officers are being recognized as life-saving heroes after they rescued a suicidal woman who was just a hand’s breadth from perishing.
Ryan Helmecy and Taylor Atkinson arrived at the I-35 overpass in northwest Indiana where a woman was threatening to jump. The bridge over a series of railroad tracks was flanked by sidewalks and a chain link fence.
As Atkinson and Helmecy arrived, the woman was already making her way down the other side of the fence, at which point the two men began begging her not to jump.
When it was clear she wasn’t stopping, Helmecy sprinted over to the fence, mounted it, and grabbed the woman’s hand.
Then she let go.
With nothing but air separating her feet from a 30-foot drop onto loose rock and steel tracks, Atkinson arrived seconds later and grabbed her other arm.
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They held on like this for several minutes until a firetruck that had arrived under the overpass was able to provide a bucket to lower the woman into.
“They completely put their well-being aside to go over that fence and hang on,” said LaPorte Police Chief Paul Brettin. “She was begging them to let go. They would not do that.”
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The chain link fence was installed there to protect potentially suicidal people, and since its placement years ago, there haven’t been any calls. Atkinson said he was surprised when he heard one.
The two men were honored by the police department with special commendations, and the occasionally-used moniker of “Spiderman” for their comic-book rescue.
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A huge thank you to Officers Helmecy and Atkinson for saving a life. You are heroes.