Syracuse Officers Save Suicidal Woman on Bridge

A woman had already climbed over the Bear Street bridge overlooking Interstate 81 South in Syracuse, NY, when two Syracuse police officers arrived Monday evening.

Officers James Pastorello and Joseph Tolone saw the woman standing on the bridge, over the ledge — about to fall into traffic below, city police spokesman Sgt. Matthew Malinowski told Syracuse.com .

“To complicate matters, there was a high, chain-link fence that was between the (woman) and the officers,” he said.

The officers rushed to the bridge, approached the woman and quickly grabbed her clothing through the chain-linked fence.

At one point, the woman took her feet off the ledge. But Tolone and Pastorello kept holding on and kept her from falling onto the interstate below, Malinowski said.

Additional officers and firefighters arrived to help get the woman down safely.