Officer Is Reunited With Suicidal Man He Talked Down From The Golden Gate Bridge Eight Years Ago

[BeyondGeography]

A San Francisco man who almost took his life eight years ago by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge has been reunited with the hero who saved his life.

Kevin Berthia was perched on the iconic bridge ready to take a fatal leap on March 11, 2005, when he heard the voice of California Highway Patrol officer Kevin Briggs calling out to him from above.

Over 60 life-changing minutes, Briggs managed to convince Berthia, as he has done with hundreds of suicidal men and women, to climb back over the rail and give life another shot. Since that significant day Berthia hasn't looked back and is now happily married with two children.

...'I didn't know what I was going to feel, or how I was going to react,' he said. 'But when I first saw him, he walked up me and I just shook his hand. It felt like I had known this man my whole life. The nerves weren't there. It was just two old friends being reunited.'

As he presented Briggs with the award, Bertha explained how grateful he was for Briggs' help and urged others to seek help, insisting they could too get better and life a fulfilled life.

'I didn't want him to try and stop me but now I'm glad he did,' he told the crowd. 'All I can say is that I am truly grateful. You gave me an opportunity to live.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2323468/Kevin-Berthia-Emotional-reunion-suicidal-man-hero-police-officer-Kevin-Briggs-talked-Golden-Gate-Bridge.html

[Laurian]

1. What a nice "Good News" story.

A good way to start the week!

[KinMd]

3. I'm reminded of something I've read....

And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.

- Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin 37a

[xtraxritical]

4. Another diminution of the concept of "hero".

[nolabear]

6. I'm just stunned by remarks like that.

Why would that be your first response to an act of compassion and the kind of responsibility that most people would never assume? I just don't get it.

[Patiod]

8. Well said, nolabear

[BeyondGeography]

9. There's always one

No matter what you post.

[xtraxritical]

10. What normal human being would not try to talk someone out of suicide? It takes a "hero"?

[nolabear]

11. Maybe I need to know your definition of "hero."

[xtraxritical]

15. Someone who actually dove in the water to save him.

What would you have said if the policeman had not done his job?

[nolabear]

19. That he didn't deserve to have it. But he chose it

As do others. I think someone who saves a life or goes out of their way to make lives worth living at cost to themselves are heroes. Doesn't have to be risk of death. To have failed and lost that man, as he well may have lost others, comes at a cost. Most people won't take that chance, of trying and failing. He did. That, to me, is heroic.

[Summer Hathaway]

28. That was beautifully put ...

"Most people won't take that chance, of trying and failing. He did. That, to me, is heroic."

To me, too. Very well said.

[cali]

12. to do that over and over? yes. it takes a hero

and many, many normal people wouldn't even begin to know how to do it. He does heroic, soul grinding work for the benefit of others.

[xtraxritical]

16. So all police that put on the uniform are heros?

The mealy political correctness here is discouraging.

[BeyondGeography]

17. Stop already

You are completely tone-deaf, righteously fixated on a point so narrow it is non-existent, because you are hoping to make a larger point, which is equally bogus.

Did this cop do heroic work? Ask the people he saved. Their opinion might be somewhat more valuable than yours. And if that doesn't work (this is really for a broader audience than you; you are hopeless), ask yourself how many workdays you've had like this, o noble keyboard warrior:

'During my career I've encountered numerous suicide attempts on the Golden Gate Bridge. Of those attempts, I've only lost one person. It's something you never forget.

[xtraxritical]

25. Ok, last try, it was his job. Occasionally things worked out well.

[BeyondGeography]

35. Watch the clip in the article

He talked to one jumper for seven hours in the cold until the person climbed back over the rail. He is phenomenal at his job and goes to extraordinary lengths to save lives. Most people call that heroism.

[sibelian]

33. It's nothing to do with image, heroism is "awarded" by feeling.

It's a feeling that is inspired, not a category requiring definition. There isn't an "appopriate" or "innappropriate" definition of things like heroism! It's not an attempt to manage public perceptions, it's an expression of an emotion!

[Starry Messenger]

22. The guy who made the film "The Bridge" didn't.

Several of us found out an old friend of ours had killed himself jumping off the GG bridge because that asshole had filmed it without calling for help.

[Yo_Mama]

14. Huh? There are many types of courage

For most people, confronting this type of situation over and over again would be a psychic horror, and I'm sure this guy feels the pressure.

There are cancer nurses who are heroes for grabbing a few minutes at the end of their busy shifts to sit and talk for a few minutes with a frightened, desperate patient.

There are hospice nurses who are heroes for coming to know and suffer with their dying patients and their families OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

[awoke_in_2003]

23. Oh, for fuck's sake. nt

[NBachers]

29. When you're at an awards ceremony celebrating the many lives you've saved, you can decline the honor

Be all modest and "aw shucks" and like that

Diminish the value of the lives saved, to the very people who are still living them.

[TheBlackAdder]

30. You really sound like someone who is bitter because your life hasn't amounted to much...

yet.

There's still time to correct that. It's your choice as to which path you continue to take.

[WillyT]

5. Related Story Here:

DULink: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022817083

[abelenkpe]

7. K&R

Lovely story. Now gotta go re-do my lashes...

[Yo_Mama]

13. What a hopeful, decent story

I'm so glad his life has turned around, and I think it's great that the two could meet again on such a happy note.

Also, to be fair it is the side of a policemen's activities that we rarely see discussed in the media, yet they do a surprising amount of this type of thing and they tend to do it very well.

[Logical]

18. This is what the police should be known for. n-t

[Cha]

20. Wonderful News.. thanks BG! n/m

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. Wonderful story! No taser involved!

[awoke_in_2003]

24. It is good to see...

that some still take "to serve and protect" seriously

[Sunlei]

27. good news & some police do deserve awards.

[LWolf]

31. I like good news.

Thank you.

I wish there had been a Kevin Briggs on the bridge when my beloved aunt jumped in '72.

[reflection]

32. How horrible.

I'm so sorry.

[JNelson6563]

34. What a wonderful story!