California Highway Patrol Officer

California Highway Patrol

1/11/1996

Special Act Award (Gold)

Officer Greg Nelson was serving with the Freeway Service Patrol when he received a call that a man appeared ready to jump from the Vermont overcrossing. Noting it was only one block away, Officer Nelson ran from the CHP office to the scene. Arriving on the bridge, Officer Nelson found himself behind the suicidal man who was now hanging onto the railing by one hand, his attention held by three ambulance employees at the opposite end. Officer Nelson saw a distraught, sobbing teenager, well dressed and wearing a large backpack. The three medics watched as the officer moved cautiously into position. They held the man’s attention with verbal reassurances and hand gestures which Officer Nelson correctly identified as diversions to help him move in undetected. Officer Nelson was approximately eight feet away when his radio unexpectedly beeped and the young man turned, saw Officer Nelson and jumped. Officer Nelson lunged to grab the man and grasped the backpack strap that was beneath the man’s armpit and around his neck. The young man’s weight took Officer Nelson off his feet. His knee slammed into to the rail and they both nearly went over. Officer Nelson held onto the backpack strap with one hand and the railing with his other hand until the ambulance employees got there and helped him bring him up.