Charles Franklin Hoop saved a man from falling, Twin Falls, Idaho, December 14, 2017. The suicidal man, 19, was standing on a 4-inch concrete curb on the outside of a 40-inch-high bridge railing at night above the Snake River, which was 486 feet below. After several motorists called 911 to report the man’s behavior, a sheriff’s deputy, Hoop, 40, was dispatched to the scene and arrived within about two minutes. Hoop observed the man leaning forward away from the bridge and shouting incoherently, leading Hoop to believe the man planned to jump to his death. Hoop parked his patrol vehicle adjacent to the man, exited his vehicle and hopped a concrete barrier onto a walkway. From a point behind the man on the inside of the railing, Hoop placed his left leg quickly through the railing’s vertical metal slats for stability and, extending his arms and torso toward the man, lunged forward, and bear hugged the man around his chest as the man released his grip and went limp. Securing the man in place and supporting the full weight of the man’s body, Hoop pushed against the bottom of the railing with his free right foot and, using that for leverage, pulled the man up and over the railing to the walkway, subduing the man for his own safety until other deputies arrived. The man was taken to a hospital for observation and was not physically injured, though he admitted himself for psychiatric screening and care. Hoop was not injured.
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