A group of truck-driving good Samaritans answered a call to help save a man threatening to commit suicide by jumping off a freeway overpass on Tuesday.
A line of 13 truckers created a wall on I-696 in metro Detroit to help prevent a man from jumping off the overpass in a unique act of compassion. The trucks would have significantly shortened the fall of the unnamed man if he had leaped.
Chris Harrison, who claims to have been part of the “trucker wall” and shared some photos in a Facebook post on the Twisted Truckers page, said the act of compassion took place between 1 and 3 a.m. Tuesday, starting with one truck.
Harrison, in replying to other Facebook users, said Michigan State troopers 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 Michigan state police spokesman Mike Shaw, that is standard protocol.
He said, “It provides a safety net for the person in case they happen to lose their grip and fall or if they decide to jump. With the trucks lined up underneath they’re only falling about five to six feet as opposed 15 or 16.”
After about two hours of engaging with officials the distressed man willingly backed off the edge and is receiving help.
In all, the ordeal lasted about three hours.
Harrison said a highway patrolman walked to each truck afterward and shook the truckers’ hands