A 24-year-old man with a suicide note in his possession was prevented from jumping from the Metro Gold Line bridge that crosses the Hollywood (101) Freeway by the quick action of deputies from the sheriff’s Transit Policing Division, authorities said Wednesday.
Deputy Richard Faulk was on patrol with his canine partner Clyde about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when a witness alerted him to a man walking on the Gold Line tracks. When Faulk and Clyde approached the man, he ran and appeared to be headed to the train trestles.
Faulk called for backup and to shut down the freeway in both directions in case the man decided to jump.
Deputies Jeff Johnson, Ken Cianciosi and George Perez saw that the man was hanging from the bridge and they decided to approach him.
The bridge was not made for pedestrian traffic, which made it unsafe for the deputies, but they approached him and could see he was hanging only by his fingertips. The deputies collectively reached under the concrete barrier and pulled him to safety.
The man, who told deputies he wanted to end his life because of personal problems, was taken to County-USC Medical Center for evaluation. The freeway was closed for about seven minutes and train service was halted.
— City News Service