13 Trucks Line Up Under Detroit Overpass to Prevent Suicidal Man From Jumping to Death

13 Trucks Line Up Under Detroit Overpass to Prevent Suicidal Man From Jumping to Death
(Illustration - Shutterstock)
Epoch Inspired Staff
3/5/2019
Updated:
2/16/2020

Help can come in many forms when someone most needs it, and these truckers prove that with the amazing life-saving job they pulled off in early April 2018.

When a man threatened to jump off an overpass on Interstate 696 in metro Detroit, Michigan, police called on truckers to assist them in preventing the man’s death.

Thirteen semi trailers lined up side by side like sentries to hopefully prevent the man from jumping, and if he did indeed jump his fall would be far less.

The police were able to negotiate with the man and persuade him not to jump.

“This photo does show the work troopers and local officers do to serve the public,” the department tweeted. “But also in that photo is a man struggling with the decision to take his own life.”

“What we were able to do is kind of rectify that trigger and get him to decide that he was better off living than dying,” Lt. Mike Shaw said on FOX2.

“We know that usually if someone jumps from that height it’s usually not going to be a good outcome,” he said.

“We will actually steal semi trucks out of the crowd and as we get the cars off the freeway we will direct the semis to another trooper that’s standing underneath the bridge and we will start to line them up right across,” Shaw added.

This tactic has been in place for 23 years, but it’s only recently been made known widely through the internet.

“We have been doing this for as long as I have been in the department, which is 1995. We have kept it quiet for that long but social media and cell phones kind of changes that.”

If you know of anyone who may be in danger of taking their own life, there are many ways to help. In addition to sharing some warmth by talking to that person yourself, there are friends, family, 911, and the National Suicide Prevention hotline among other community groups that are all viable options to turn to.

“There are so many other options than climbing up on that overpass,” adds Shaw.