Sometimes a second can mean the difference between life and death, which is why police officers rely on their instincts to make split second decisions when a life is on the line.
When a hostile resident at an elderly care home ran away from Officer Justin Martin of the Hamden Police Department in Connecticut and a few staff members, his instinct told him not to let the man out of his sight. He didn’t hesitate to sprint after the old man.
“I just wanted to catch up to him. I didn’t want him to hurt himself. I didn’t want to lose sight of him and I didn’t know the building so I wanted to make sure that I was able to catch up to him,” Martin said. Martin followed the man up six flights of stairs to the rooftop of the building, and as he stepped outside, he saw the suicidal man fling himself over the railing.
“I was able to grab his foot and he had a belt on so I was able to pull him up enough to get the belt, my other hand onto his belt and I got both hands on his waist and I was able to pull him up after that,” Martin said. If he had been even a second slower, the resident, who was brought to the hospital for evaluation, likely wouldn’t be alive today.
“I knew it was a high-risk situation for the gentleman but after watching the video I was like, oh man, that really just happened,” said Martin. “Everyone got to go home safe and everything worked out well. I was able to help the community that day and I’m really glad it turned out that way.”
Watch the heart-pounding moment this police officer saves a suicidal man just as he was about to jump off a roof.
Can you believe what would have happened if this cop had been even a second slower? Let us know what you think in the comments below and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image: Hamden Police Department]
Cop Pulls Suicidal Man To Safety At The Last Second is an article from: LifeDaily