‘You’ve got your whole life ahead of you,’ Video shows police talk a man out of jumping off a bridge

“You’re already three months clean, you’ve got your whole life ahead of you,” is just one of the things said by Dayton Police Officers attempting to talk a man out of jumping off of a bridge.

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Around 2 a.m. on Monday, officers showed up to the Stewart Street Bridge in Dayton to find a man threatening to jump off of the edge, according to Dayton Police Department’s Public Information Specialist (DPD).

Video sent to us by Dayton Police of bodycam footage from the incident shows officers begin by introducing themselves and assuring the man that they were not there to get him in trouble and just wanted to help.

“We’re here to help you redeem yourself,” officers said as the man stood on the edge of the bridge. “If you fell off that bridge, there’s no chance for that. We don’t want to see that happen.”

Around 2:15 a.m. officers began calling the man’s grandpa, with no answer.

“I called, he didn’t answer, I’m calling again,” officers said.

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Officers refused to give up and were able to get his grandfather on the phone.

“What can me and your grandpa do for you right now?,” officers pleaded with the man.

After nearly 90 minutes of negotiation, the man climbed over the rails of the bridge to safety, DPD spokesperson said.

“More than an hour, closer to 90 minutes to talk to somebody,” Lt. David Matthews said in the video, “to talk them into not harming themselves, that is extraordinary.”

A jacket and an officers cell phone with the man’s brother on the line were waiting on the sidewalk for the man after he climbed the railing, video shows.

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As the video ends, the man safely steps into a police cruiser.

“Ultimately no harm was done and hopefully the person got the help he needed,” Lt. David Matthews said in the video. “It’s a testament to the training that we did.”

At the beginning of October, Dayton Police conducted a hostage negotiation team training class, Matthews said. One of the officers who persuaded the man to not jump off of the bridge was in that training.

“As I watched the video and some of the things that he was saying to the person that was in distress and threatening to jump, it was exactly the things we taught in the training,” Matthews said. “It was kind of a proud moment.”

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