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This dramatic Fox 2 image and video of a successful life-saving attempt by troopers and truckers earns national attention Tuesday.
The coordination on I-696 in Huntington Woods came in response to an apparently suicidal man, poised to jump to the freeway -- a plan blocked early Tuesday when the state police asked big rig drivers to wait below the overpass to reduce the fall distance. A closer view is in a second photo here, and the TV video is below.
For whatever reason -- perhaps the show of concern by strangers, perhaps the time to reconsider or maybe the blocked path -- the troubled man climbed back to safety after nearly three hours.
Troopers say they've used the tactic before, though without media coverage.
This shot by Lansing trucker Chris Harrison shows the potential jumper at top center, wearing white clothes. (Facebook photo)
This drama is covered beyond Michigan, with reports on CNN, CBS Evening News, NPR, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald and other newspapers.
A Facebook post of just the photo at an Illinois-based truckers' site drew 29,000 likes and is shared 30,000 times in 11 hours.
Closer to home, the Michigan State Police's Metro Detroit division tweeted the photo, earning 4,000 "likes" and nearly 2,000 retweets in nine hours. More than 160 admirers comment and congratulate the department. "That was a very clever idea," Tracy Wheeler of Grand Haven tells the agency. "Thanks to the MSP and those truckers who helped save a life."
We share seven Deadline readers' reactions from Facebook in a comment below this post, including this from Renae Russell: "Thankful to our Michigan State Police and the truck drivers who created an environment that discouraged a suicidal man. Great work."
Original article, Tuesday morning:
Michigan State Police did something clever, and it worked.
Troopers on Tuesday morning arranged for 13 semi-trucks to sit under an overpass on I-696 and Coolidge in the Oak Park-Huntington Woods area as a suicidal man threatened to jump, Fox 2 reports. The idea was to shorten the fall if the man jumped.
The first call came around 1 a.m. Police closed the eastbound lanes while troopers organized the semi-trucks passing through. A few minutes later, the westbound lanes were also closed.
The man, who climbed back to safety, was taken by Huntington Woods Police to Beaumont Hospital for evaluation. The freeway reopened around 4 a.m.
