Michael William Stoney helped to save a woman from falling, Dana Point, California, October 27, 2008. A 39-year-old woman intent on committing suicide climbed onto the narrow ledge of an interstate highway overpass and held by her fingers to a chain-link fence along the edge of the overpass. Motorists stopped on the overpass, including a man who scaled the 10-foot fence and positioned himself on the four-inch ledge, which was about 35 feet above the highway pavement. He straddled the woman from behind, pinning her to the fence. Law enforcement officers, including Stoney, 35. highway patrol officer, arrived, as did firefighters. Seeing that the motorist was stressed, Stoney went around the nearer end of the fence and made his way about 80 feet along the ledge to him and the woman. He helped to secure the woman to the fence with a line that was passed through it and then directed the motorist to return to safety. Stoney took his place in pressing the woman to the fence, and he handcuffed her to it as she continued to struggle. When those on the overpass cut a hole in the fence, Stoney, who had been joined by a sheriff’s deputy, passed the woman through it to safety and then followed her there. She required hospitalization.
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