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Police Officer Prevents Suicide By Talking About Football [VIDEO]

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A Columbia, South Carolina police officer kept a man from jumping off a bridge into traffic and committing suicide by talking to him about football, Columbia’s The State reports.

Officer Michael Blackmore approached the man who was sitting on a bridge ready to jump to his death on a state highway below and carefully talked him out of it. Blackmore began a calm conversation with the man around 3:45 a.m. last Saturday and a little over eight minutes later he came down from the guardrail.

Officer Blackmore’s heroics are shown from footage taken from a body-worn video camera by the Columbia police department.

The man, who sat crying on the edge of the bridge, told Blackmore he was tired of living. “You’re just probably having a bad night, bud. I have bad nights, too, sometimes,” Officer Blackmore began before the two started talking about football.

Officer Blackmore found the man was a fan of the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Washington Redskins, The State reports.

(Screen grab/YouTube theCrewYT)

Officer Blackmore talks to the victim (Screen grab/YouTube theCrewYT)

“You’re just having a bad night tonight,” Blackmore told him. “But tomorrow night, when you’re sitting around and you’re watching the Gamecocks–or on Sunday when you’re watching the Redskins play or whatever–you’ll look back and be like, ‘Man, what was I thinking Friday night?’ You’re just having a bad night.”

Officer Blackmore continued talking to the man about football until he was able to grab the mans arm, and with the help of a few other officers, bring him to safety.

Blackmore was in a very similar situation where he saved another man attempting to take his own life not too long ago, according to The State.

“It was pretty much the same exact thing,” the police officer said. “I ended up talking to the guy about football. He told me he was a Notre Dame fan,” The State reports.

Stories like these haven’t gotten enough attention recently. With so much controversy surrounding bad incidents with police, people shouldn’t forget that these are the people who serve and protect our citizens, saving lives every day.

(Screen grab/YouTube theCrewYT)

(Screen grab/YouTube theCrewYT)