Sheriff’s deputies grab man who threatened to jump
A report issued Monday by the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office said two deputies saved the life of a Thoreau man who tried to commit suicide Sunday by jumping off a bridge.
The man, who was not identified, had climbed on the ledge of a bridge located on State Highway 371 and First Street in Thoreau.
Deputy Ivan Tsethlikai was the first officer who responded and he said he saw the man lift his left leg over the barrier and straddle the edge of the bridge.
He then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get the man to move away from the bridge but the man said he wanted to jump because it was Father’s Day.
At one point the man asked for his mother and when Tsethlikai offered to call her, the man refused to provide her phone number.
By that time another deputy, Lorenzo Guerrero, arrived as backup but when the man saw him approach, he told him to stop or he would jump.
As the two continued to talk to him, Tsethlikai said the man continued to look at the pavement some 17-and-a-half feet below the bridge.
Tsethlikai said when the man looked as if he was about to jump, the two deputies ran over and grabbed his wrists and pulled him away from the bridge.
The deputies then waited for medical personnel to show up and the man was then transported to Gallup Indian Medical Center for evaluation.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow