MLB Umpire Spots Suicidal Woman Dangling Off Bridge, Then Whispers 4 Words In Her Ear.

Major league umpires make fate changing decisions every day, but when a life was at stake John Tumpane made the right call.

Tumpane was walking along the Roberto Clemente Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pa. around 3 p.m. on June 28th, when he came upon a scene that immediately put him on alert. A few hundred yards in the distance, he saw a woman swing her legs over the bridge railing and look toward the Allegheny River below.

“Obviously, that grabbed my attention,”Tumpane said. “I asked a couple in front of me, ‘What’s this lady trying to do?’ and they said, ‘I don’t know.’ â€

Tumpane rushed toward the woman, who seemed to be calm, and asked her if everything was ok. The conversation that followed was absolutely heartbreaking.

“I just wanted to get a better look of the city from this side,”she replied, according to Tumpane’s memory.

“Oh no,”Tumpane said, locking his arm around hers. “You don’t want to do that. It’s just as good over here. Let’s go grab some lunch and talk.â€

“No, no, no,”she answered. “I’m better off on this side. Just let me go.â€

“I’m not going to let you go,”he said. “Let’s talk this out. We’ll get you back over here.â€

“No one wants to help me,”she repeated. “Just let me go.â€

“No, we’re here to help you.â€

“You’ll forget me tomorrow.â€

“I’ll never forget you,”he said. “You can have my promise on that.â€

Tumpane signaled to a passerby to call 911,as the woman tried to break free from his arms. She let her legs go limp as the umpire literally held on for dear life until help arrived.

“I was thinking, ‘God, this has got to be a good ending, not a bad ending,’ and held on for dear life,”Tumpane said. “She said, ‘You don’t care about me.’ I said, ‘I care.’ She said, ‘I just want to end it right now. I want to be in a better place.’ I said, ‘You’re going to be all right.’ â€

Other good samaritans quickly converged on the duo, one man grabbing her arms and another pinning her ankles against the bottom rail of the bridge. Finally, the calvary arrived with a police boat, helicopter, ambulance and firetruck. An officer handcuffed one of her wrists to the bridge as Tumpane continued to console and comfort her.

“I was just trying to tell her it was going to be all right. There’s help,”Tumpane said. “We’re going to be better if she can get back on this side. I said, ‘All these people are here. Look at all these people who want to help you. We’re all here for the right reasons. We want to get you better.’ â€

When the distressed woman was finally lifted over the railing paramedics laid her on a gurney before whisking her away. In that moment, Tumpane knelt by the woman one last time and asked her name, she gave it, and he spent a few moments praying for her.

“I told her, ‘I didn’t forget her, and we’d be here, and she’s better off on this side than the other side.’ ”he recalled. “I just want her to know that.â€

A man named Chris was one of the ‘other guys’ on the bridge that day that held the woman’s right arm secure. He sent an email to Stephen Nesbitt, a writer for the Pittsburgh Pirates, giving a first hand account of what happened that day.

“None of this… would have been possible without John and his quick thinking. he is a hero. He was the first to respond and recognized the situation.”

Shaken but thankful for the outcome, Tumpane returned to the nearby PNC stadium to prepare for the Pirates game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The 34-year-old Chicago native became a hero that day, but for him, it was simply a matter of ‘right place, right time.’

You never know when your time to become an everyday hero will arrive. Be a Tumpane to someone today!

Share and spread the news.

Want to be happier in just 5 minutes a day? Sign up for Morning Smile and join over 455,000+ people who start each day with good news.