Police officers in Marietta, Georgia, and a Good Samaritan are being praised for rescuing a woman who may have been about to fall to her death.
On September 13, police officers Amelia Hines and Matthew Abkemeier answered a call regarding a woman trying to leap from the fifth floor of a motel on Delk Road, CBS 46 reported.
When they arrived at the scene, they found the woman, who was apparently experiencing a mental crisis, standing on the ledge and leaning out from the building.
“We hopped out the car, ran up the stairs and on each flight, I was still trying to talk to her to get her to maybe lean back in, kind of stall basically as I continued my way up,” Hines explained.
“I just went into life-saving mode and tried to do everything I could to try to help keep her from falling,” he noted.
The Marietta, Georgia Police Department on Friday shared bodycam footage of the incident, showing the officers approach the woman.
“As soon as the woman noticed someone grabbed her, she dropped the weight of her body from her feet which then fell below the lip of the ledge. A bystander, now identified as Mr. Bush, saw this action and jumped into help the Officers hold the woman up through the railing!” the post read.
The department receives lots of calls about individuals experiencing mental issues and officers are usually able to arrive in time to help, Hines said, adding, “Never anything where they’re that close [to taking their life].”
The two officers said they used their crisis intervention training to prevent the worst from happening.
Following the incident, the woman was transported to the hospital to undergo an evaluation and receive treatment.
“Had it not been for the swift actions of Officers and Mr. Bush this woman would not be alive today. KUDOS OFFICERS for taking immediate actions to save her life!” the department said.