Rajon Barin Begin helped to save a man from falling, Fremont, California, September 27, 1994. A 20-year-old man intended to commit suicide by jumping from a highway overpass onto railroad tracks 45 feet below. A motorist on the overpass, Begin, 27, account executive, saw the man on the overpass parapet, clinging to a chain-link fence. Begin approached the man and spoke to him through the fence. In a further attempt to keep him from jumping, Begin then went to the end of the overpass, mounted the parapet, which afforded only four inches of footing, and, holding to the fence, inched his way about 70 feet to the man. Although the man outweighed him, Begin straddled the man, pinning him to the fence as Begin himself clung to it. Other motorists arrived; over the course of several minutes they and Begin talked to the man, who struggled intermittently against Begin. A police officer arrived, as did firefighters. When the man consented to leave the overpass, firefighters secured him and Begin, then removed them over the fence to the deck of the overpass. Begin sustained bruised hands, but he recovered.
69145 – 7968
69145-7968