WKRC) - Courtney Jackson never drives over the Black Street Bridge when she gets off the night shift. Thankfully, Thursday morning, she did.
Jackson was driving over the Hamilton bridge when she saw a man on the bridge yelling.
"His foot was up and he was yelling, and he was like, 'Nobody going to tell me anything,'" said Jackson.
Jackson said she got to the other side of the bridge and turned around.
"Maybe it was just God letting me know like somebody needs help, and I always feel like if you see somebody, help somebody," said Jackson.
When she got back to him, he was sitting on the bridge. She asked him, "'Hey, are you OK?' But, he said, 'No, I'm not OK,' and I said, 'Well, what's going on?'"
Then, she listened to his story.
"I lost my family; I lost my job; I lost my house. He said, 'I don't have anything,'" Jackson said.
The man told her he was a veteran thrown out of homeless shelters=.
"When I asked him if he wanted to go get a cup of coffee, he said, 'Yes, that sounds perfect,' so I was like, 'Come on, you can come get in my car,' and so I didn't just let him go. I still had him," said Jackson.
Jackson called her mom Kiyaa Bowens, who got to the bridge and called 911.
Bowens said the dispatcher, "This gentleman that was trying to jump off the bridge and my daughter stopped him, and they've been sitting out here and no help has arrived, and this man really needs help."
Then, Bowens asked if they could pray.
"I hope that God would place it on his heart to understand that God never puts more on us than what we can bear, and he can come out of this. He really can," Bowens said.
Being back in that same spot was tough.
"I cried all day. Literally all day," said Jackson.
When he hugged her and headed for help at Fort Hamilton Hospital, Jackson was happy she stopped and listened.
"I don't know if I would have done the same thing. I don't know. That man is breathing today at this time because of her selfless act," said Bowens.
No comments:
Post a Comment