VERO BEACH — Officer Richard Chimenti was just four feet away from a man who jumped off a bridge last Friday .
Chimenti said the man told him “don’t come any closer or I’ll jump.” Chimenti grabbed the man after he jumped. He and officer Kyle Eder pulled the man back to safety.
Vero Beach officers Kyle Eder (left) and Richard Chimenti (right) spoke Wednesday June 28, 2017, about how they saved a man from jumping off the Alma Lee Loy Bridge in Indian River County.
The split-second decision saved the man from falling 65 feet to the water below, police spokeswoman Anna Carden said. Chimenti has crisis intervention and hostage negotiation training, he said.
The middle-aged man’s identity was not released for privacy reasons.
It all began at 1:48 p.m. June 23 when a woman driving over the bridge called police and said a man was staggering by the railing. Then, the man called police and told them he was going to jump, Eder said.
Chimenti said he arrived at the scene within a few minutes and saw the man sitting on a railing at the top of the south side of the bridge. A minute later, Eder drove up to the scene.
Chimenti was trying to talk to the man, but he said it was difficult to hear because of the wind and traffic.
“I wanted to find out who he was and what was going on,” Chimenti said.
The man made eye contact with Chimenti and said “don’t come any closer or I’ll jump,” Chimenti said. As Eder approached the man and Chimenti, the man jumped and Chimenti reached out and grabbed him by the belt.
“I just wanted to hold on and make sure I didn’t let go,” Chimenti said.
Eder said he then climbed on the railing and grabbed the man underneath his arms. Both officers pulled the man back over the railing and onto the ground.
“He didn’t make any comment afterwards. He was pretty quiet,” Eder said. “We felt relieved. It could’ve turned out a lot worse.”
Afterwards, Chimenti said he watched the dashboard camera footage of the incident and was surprised to see how he and Eder maneuvered to bring the man back over the railing.
Eder said he called the woman who initially made the 911 call and thanked her for calling the police.
Eder has worked for the Vero Beach Police Department since 2015 and was trained by Chimenti, Chimenti said. Chimenti said he has worked for the police department for about 12 years.
The police department usually sends out several officers to emergency calls and the regular response time is three minutes, Carden said.