Police praised for courage in saving man from bridge jump (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Police praised for courage in saving man from bridge jump

3:50pm Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter

POLICE officers have been praised for their courage after they saved a man who looked like he was going to jump from a bridge in Basingstoke.

Officers were called to the railway bridge in Norn Hill, Basingstoke, at around 4.30pm last Thursday. An eyewitness, who saw the drama unfold from her office in Basing View, told The Gazette that the police were “incredibly brave”.

She added: “My office overlooks the bridge. I saw this man standing on the parapet of the bridge. There was a big waste pipe and he took his top off, sat on it and was leaning forward, and he looked like he was about to jump.

“Another young chap came running down the road towards him, and within minutes the police were there and sealed off the whole area.

“One policeman started to talk to the man and tried to encourage him to come down. He moved as if he was going to jump and the police were incredibly brave and they jumped head first over the bridge to grab him.

“A train came thundering through and he looked again like he was going to jump. They tried to pull him back over the bridge. He was struggling, and they were so brave and brought him back over.”

The eyewitness said the whole incident lasted around 40 minutes, adding: “The police managed to get him down safely and saved his life.”

The 42-year-old man, from Southampton, was detained under the mental health act and was taken into police custody.