Victor Oxford helped to save a woman from falling, Corona, California, January 2, 2009. In an apparent suicide attempt, a 38-year-old woman mounted the end of the concrete parapet along the edge of a freeway overpass and, holding to a chain-link fence, made her way along the parapet toward the freeway. Oxford, 54, minister and stock trader, was stopped in traffic near the overpass when he saw the woman approach the parapet. Following her, he too mounted the structure and, with only about six inches of footing atop it, held to the outside of the fence as he proceeded about 85 feet to the woman. Then at a point about 40 feet above the level of the freeway, Oxford placed his left leg across the back of the woman, pinning her to the fence. She struggled against him. Others responding to the overpass put a belt through the fence, and Oxford placed it around the woman. A man climbed over the fence and, joining Oxford on the parapet, helped to secure her. Another man responded with a wire cutter and made an opening in the fence opposite the woman. Oxford then lifted her to the opening, and she was taken through the fence to safety on the overpass, Oxford and the other man following. Oxford sustained scratches to his face and a pulled muscle in his shoulder, from which he recovered.
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