CHANDLER, Ariz. — A police officer in the southwestern state of Arizona recently showed first-hand how compassion can help to save a life.
The Chandler, Arizona Police Department released video footage this past Wednesday of an incident that took place in March when a 26-year-old man climbed the over the railing of a pedestrian bridge that stretches over Highway 101 southwest of Phoenix.
The man was in distress and was planning on jumping over the edge.
However, Officer Aaron Little captured dramatic footage on his body camera in which he talks the man away from a dangerous plunge.
“I’ll hug you, man. I don’t care. I just want to talk to you. I swear,” Little is heard saying on the footage.
Officer was eventually able to get the man to back away from the edge and to come to get his hug.
“Come give me that hug,” Little said. “I’m not going to do anything to you.”
The man can be heard crying as his body covers the camera as the two hug.
A mental health expert with Empact Suicide Prevention Center explained to local media that the officer’s calmness in the situation was very important in diffusing the situation.
“Being sympathetic, non-judgmental, calm, so the fact that the officer didn’t seem shocked by what the individual was doing, and maintained his distance from him,” according to Erica Chestnut-Ramirez, Director of Crisis at Empact Suicide Prevention Center.
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