Fort Worth police officers save woman from jumping off bridge

Two Fort Worth police officers responding to a call knew immediately they had to act quickly.

With body cameras rolling, the officers approached a woman threatening to jump from a bridge on 820 near I-35W. Facing down their own fears, the officers stepped up to save her life.             

Fort Worth police officers Justin Henry and Trae Cierzan were riding together last Saturday evening when they got a call that a woman was suicidal on the top of the eastbound 820 ramp at 35.

As the officers drove up the ramp, the woman quickly got out of her car and climbed on top of the guard rail and threatened to jump. The officers say that's when their training kicked in.

“Try to talk to them like they are humans. They're in an extreme emotional state that you just try to get them to talk to you,” Cierzan said. “Because if you can get them to talk to you, things can turn out for the better."

"I just think we thought we had to get her down as quickly as we could,” Henry said. “We had a storm coming in. It was windy. We think of the longer she was up there, it increases her chance to fall or to possibly jump. So we're just trying to approach her calmly and slowly."

"We both grabbed her at the same time,” Cierzan said. “We didn't really say, communicating back-and-forth to each other. We kind of just kept looking at each other, giving each other head nods and moving closer and closer.  And once we get close enough to grab her, I think it might've been like a little head nod we both went in at the same time."

Officer Cierzan says his training also helped him overcome his own fears.

"I'm scared of heights!” he admitted. “I didn't even know how high we were up until afterwards. I went over to the edge and looked and yeah, it was definitely high!"

"The moment we grabbed her I was just so relieved because I knew she was gonna be okay,” Henry said.