Sometimes you just need to be creative tosave lives:
A suicidal man clung to an overpass high above Interstate 94 Monday morning, facing near-certain death if he jumped or fell.
But a quick-thinking state trooper found an ingenious way to save him: He summoned a convoy of 18-wheelers that had been stuck in halted traffic beneath the Groveland Avenue bridge as the emergency unfolded at about 10 a.m.
Trooper Carl Hoffman rounded up a six-pack of the big rigs, positioning the trucks one by one to break a potential plunge to the pavement about 25 feet below.
“It really speaks to the trooper’s ingenuity,” Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said. “‘Hey, we can shorten his fall and he’d be less likely to harm himself.'”
In a way the story is kind of comical. When the trooper guided semi trucks below the man threatening to jump he would shuffle away from the semis, only to have the trooper position another semi under the jumper. Being creative and having the ability to think quickly are important.