WASHINGTON COUNTY – A La Verkin Police officer is describing how she was fortunate to be at the right place at the right time, and was able to help save a woman trying to take her own life.
Terrified of heights, and looking down over 100 feet. La Verkin Police Sergeant Amber Crouse remembers standing on the Hurricane/La Verkin Bridge, clinging to a woman who hopped over the bars, trying to jump. Crouse was off-duty when she was driving by and saw the woman on the bridge. She knew help was on the way, but, she feels she had no choice but to spring into action.
“I was on the inside of the bridge. I just reached my arm through the bars and held on to her,” Crouse says.
Another officer and medical crews arrived to keep the woman from jumping. Crouse says the woman fought them the entire time.
Crouse says, “At one point, she had removed her feet from the bridge, so it was just the officers and the medical staff that were holding her there.”
Eventually, a ladder truck arrived on the scene. Crouse says a fire fighter laid on the ladder while it was extended over the side of the bridge. Then he wrapped the woman in what Crouse calls a “bear hug,” and the woman was brought back over, still fighting the people who came to help her.
“As they were bringing the ladder back to the fire truck, she was fighting the fire fighter.,” Crouse says.
Crouse’s heart goes out to the woman, and Crouse hopes she’s getting the help she needs. Anyone experiencing thoughts of suicide is encouraged to call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
(Photo Credit: Amber Crouse)