Recently released body camera footage captured a Montana police officer spending over 30 minutes to stop a suicidal teenager from jumping off a bridge in September.
Great Falls Master Police Officer Jacob Smith was heading for lunch at around 2 a.m. while on duty when he spotted a young man who had climbed over the railing of the Warden Bridge, KRTV-TV reports. Smith exited his cruiser and began talking with the teenager to try to de-escalate the situation.
"He's jumping right now," Smith said in a radio message to dispatchers. "Hey, buddy! Don't do it. Will you talk to me, please?"
For nearly 35 minutes, Smith talked to the teen, convincing the teen to straddle the bridge railing while they spoke. He also got the teenager to surrender an air pistol that was in his waistband.
"Suicides are my least favorite call because people get to that point when they feel like they’ve run out of options," Smith, a seven-year veteran with the department, told KRTV.
The incident ended with Smith and the teen both safely on the bridge, and the two hugging.
"It's going to be OK. … Let's go back to the station and talk," Smith told the teen.
The connection Smith made with the teenager had an impact. Days after the incident, the teen contacted Smith to thank him, leading to the second time the officer has cried on the job.
"To see that reward of getting that young man to get help. He got treatment, and he called me afterward and he thanked me for everything, and he’s kind of stayed in touch," said Smith."We’ve bounced things off each other and he’s expressed interest in becoming law enforcement. That gratification isn’t just the one-minute hug on the bridge, it’s everything that follows that. It's to see that he’s still getting that care and help he needs."
