A California Highway Patrol officer prevented a 14-year-old girl from jumping from a Highway 58 overpass in Bakersfield on Friday afternoon.
CHP officers were called to Fairfax Road overpass after 911 reports of a person who appeared to be preparing to jump from the bridge and onto the eastbound Highway 58 traffic. When the CHP arrived at 12:08 p.m., they found a distraught girl standing outside of the railing of the Fairfax Road overpass and looking down into traffic, according to a news release.
CHP officers shut down eastbound Highway 58 traffic while they talked with the girl.
Officers were able to engage the girl in conversation and after several minutes officer Marshall Miller saw an opportunity to grab the girl. Marshall said, via a news release, that there was no way he was going to stand there and watch a 14-year-old girl take her own life.
Miller was able to put his arms around the girl and pull her from the railing and to safety. The girl was released to Kern County Mental Health Evaluation Team for evaluation.
