A rookie police officer from Pasadena, California, is being hailed a hero after he was able to talk a suicidal 12-year-old girl down from a bridge. The officer, Chris Perez, says he saw the young girl hanging by one hand from the bridge and jumped into action as onlookers stood by in tears.
The Daily Mail reports that rookie police officer Chris Perez saved a young girl’s life after he was able to talk her down from an 80-foot bridge that she had planned to commit suicide on. Officer Perez says that on Tuesday evening at around 6:50 p.m. he saw the 12-year-old little girl hanging from the guardrail of an 80-foot bridge in Pasadena, California. The girl was sobbing and about to take her own life.
As onlookers stood nearby sobbing, Officer Perez approached the child and began speaking with her. As the pair talked, Perez learned that the girl had just lost her aunt and wanted to be reunited with her. The officer says the child was scared and just wanted to be with her dead aunt again. Therefore, she had planned to commit suicide on the bridge so she could be reunited with her deceased aunt in the afterlife.
Fortunately for the child, Officer Perez was able to talk the child down, and she eventually reached up to him and said she was scared. At that point, the rookie cop grabbed the 12-year-old little girl in a giant bear hug and pulled her back onto the bridge.
Following the horrifying ordeal, bystanders took photos of the officer talking with the girl on the sidewalk. The pair could be seen in deep conversation and the child was taken to the hospital for treatment. It was discovered that the girl had fled a local group children’s home the evening that she ended up on the bridge. Officer Perez says the whole incident really hit home as he has nieces and nephews of his own.
“I do have nephews, and nieces. One who is seven, the other who just turned two. So I can’t relate, that, oh my Lord, this young individual, this juvenile, is on the other side [on the bridge] what could possibly be going wrong in your life to make you want to do something like this?”
Video taken by CBS Los Angeles shows the moments after the harrowing ordeal that shows the officer seated next to the child, who is wearing a pink top, as the two spoke.
What do you think of the rookie police officer’s calm reaction to the little girl’s plight?
[Image Credit: CBS Los Angeles Video]
