Suicide Rate In US: MLB Umpire John Tumpane Saves Woman From Jumping Off Roberto Clemente Bridge

Major League Baseball umpire John Tumpane saved the life of a woman, who was jumping off the Roberto Clemente Bridge, Pittsburgh Wednesday.

According to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10^th leading cause of deaths in the United States. On average, there are 121 suicides per day, which amounts to roughly 44,193 suicides per year.

However, jumping and/or falling from high rise structures or bridges are not the preferred method of suicide in the nation. Almost 51 percent people use firearms to end their own lives, while 24.8 percent and 16.6 percent people kill themselves through suffocation and poisoning respectively, according to Lost All Hope.

Not everyone who attempts suicide is as lucky as the woman who was saved by Tumpane. On his way back from a run, the MLB umpire was crossing Roberto Clemente Bridge around 3 p.m. EDT when he saw a woman on the other side of the bridge's railing and looking down at the Allegheny River.

“I asked a couple in front of me, ‘What’s this lady trying to do?’ and they said, ‘I don’t know’,” Tumpane told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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Tumpane did not waste any time and rushed up to the woman, asking her calmly what she was about to do. He did not believe the woman when she told him that she had climbed over to the other side of the bridge to get a better look at the city.

When the woman insisted on being left alone, Tumpane said: “I’m not going to let you go. Let’s talk this out. We’ll get you back over here.”

“You’ll forget me tomorrow,” said the woman. “I’ll never forget you. You can have my promise on that,” replied Tumpane.

By then Tumpane had gotten close enough to reach out and grab her firmly. The woman was experiencing an emotional breakdown and tried to slip from his grasp. In his interview, he said he had indicated a passerby to call 911 when the woman's legs slid off the edge of the bridge and dangled in thin air.

“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.’”

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By that time a police boat had arrived followed by a helicopter, an ambulance, a fire truck and a police officer. The emergency services immediately moved to secure the woman, putting a life preserver on her and handcuffing one of her wrists to the railing of the bridge.

The woman was finally pulled to safety and she was laid on a mat as paramedics prepared the ambulance. Tumpane was beside her the whole time that she was being attended to. The last thing that Tumpane remembered whispering to her were words of assurance.

“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 stated. “I just want her to know that.”

According to Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Sonya Toler the woman was admitted to the hospital with minor injuries. Tumpane further said that the day was an eye-opener for him, making him realize that no one can predict what a day might bring.

“You never know what somebody’s day looks like,” he said. “It’s a nice day, everyone’s out for a walk, and somebody’s not having the same day you’re having. I was just glad to help.”