It’s awesome to see good samaritans doing good for others, helping when someone is in need.
One day while former chief petty officer of the Navy, Paul DeLaughter, was driving down a Mansfield highway he noticed something in the distance. It was a woman, hanging from a bridge. Immediately his instincts to help her kicked in.
DeLaughter stopped his car in the emergency lane and started warning drivers to stop. He knew that if the woman fell into oncoming traffic it could make matters worse.
As traffic started to stop, he began to talk to the woman. “I tried talking her down,” Paul said. “We considered locking arms together, in case she fell.”
After a few minutes of talking to the woman nothing was helping. Two truck drivers had a brilliant plan, to park their 18-wheelers below the dangling woman. This would shorten the fall.
The woman still wasn’t moving. That’s when DeLaughter took further action. He climbed up on top of the trailer and grabbed the woman carefully by her feet, she then fell safely into his arms.
Firefighters soon arrived and the woman was taken to a hospital to get the help she needed. Fortunately no one was hurt.
The turning of these events seemed to be a coincidence for DeLaughter because while in the Navy he had suicide prevention training. “It’s crazy, I’ve been in the Navy for 23 years and I was constantly doing suicide prevention training,” he said. “Suicide is a real issue and you can’t just overlook it. There is always someone who can help.”
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts please visit Suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call the toll-free number 1-800-273-8255.
Watch the rescue video below.
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