Staten Island, NY – An Orthodox Jewish man is being hailed as a hero today after preventing a man from taking a fatal leap off the side of the Verrazzano Bridge.
Tuli Abraham, son of community activist Isaac Abraham, was driving from his Toms River home to Brooklyn on the lower level of the bridge at approximately 2:45 PM when the car in front of him, a dark colored Mercedes Benz with New York license plates, stopped in the right lane of the bridge.
When Abraham saw the driver of the Mercedes put on his hazard lights, exit his vehicle and head towards the side of the span, he asked the unidentified senior citizen where he was going.
“He told my son he was going to jump and my son said ‘hell no, you are not going to jump!’” Isaac Abraham told VIN News.
The younger Abraham stopped his own car and headed for the jumper who had climbed over the railing and had raised his hands in the air as he prepared to jump.
Reaching in the space between the bridge’s metal railing and the concrete barrier, Abraham grabbed the man’s belt with one hand and his jacket with the other. Hoping to free himself, the jumper struggled with Abraham, whose wife called 911 for assistance.
Several cars passed by before Abraham managed to catch the attention of a state trooper passing by. Jumping out of his vehicle to help, the state trooper grabbed the man’s legs to immobilize him and prevent him from potentially pulling his rescuers with him into the water, over 200 feet below.
As Abraham’s wife began filming the incident on her cell phone, several NYPD officers and good Samaritans raced over to help, the seven men pulling the unidentified jumper to safety and laying him down on the roadway of the bridge.
Abraham said that his son told the state trooper that in all of his life, he had never been so happy to see state troopers on a bridge.
The New York State Police identified its officer as Trooper Joshua Kaye, SP Staten Island. He was taken to Staten Island University Hospital to be treated for pain in his ribs and back. The unidentified jumper was taken to NYU-Langone Hospital in Brooklyn to be evaluated.
The NYPD Special Operations Bureau took to Twitter, commending those involved in the incident.
“Outstanding job by New York State Trooper Kaye, #NYPD ESU Detective Bonner & Officer Jezycki and good Samaritans rescuing a male that attempted to jump from Verrazano Bridge today.”
Source: VosIzNeias
