While you were sleeping, a unique act of heroism took place overnight along I-696 in metro Detroit.
On Tuesday morning, 13 heroic Michigan truckers stopped their vehicles in the middle of I-696 to create both a wall and a makeshift platform to shorten the distance the man would have fallen if he had jumped.
Authorities were called to the spot and negotiators worked for several hours to convince him not to jump as officials directed the semis to park down below.
“We received a call that a man had climbed over the fence of the overpass, and we commandeered the truck drivers to stop,” Lt. Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police, who organized the intervention, said. “In this case, we were able to identify the trigger that led the man to this point and take him to the hospital.”
Chris Harrison, who claims to have been part of the “trucker wall” in a Facebook post on the Twisted Truckers page, said the act of heroism took place between 1 and 3 a.m. Tuesday, starting with one truck.
Harrison, in replying to other Facebook users, said the cops waved 6 or 7 of the truckers through on the eastbound side of the freeway, then did the same thing on the westbound side.
According to Lieutenant Shaw, a public information officer with the Michigan State Police, this is actually standard procedure. “This is something that we’ve done for many years. It’s never really been publicized.”
The whole point, he said, is that if the person were to slip and fall, or if the negotiating officers weren’t successful in talking the person down, “The fall is only a couple feet other than 15 or 20 feet from the overpass onto the concrete below.”
Eventually, the unidentified man came down from the edge of the overpass, thanks to the efforts of the police and the truckers. He was taken to the hospital and the interstate was reopened before morning rush hour traffic.
The heroism took place while most of the country was asleep, but the moment was captured on camera.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, CBS News