Suicide !

[Jay]

A strange thing happened to me on thursday, I can't stop thinking about it.

I was on the way to visit a supplier when I noticed a girl on the motorway bridge, on her own, no cars around, little country road.

Something made me turn around after I passed to see if she was alright. As I passed her the second time I could see she was visibly distressed. I was about to stop, when I realised the situation I was in - lone girl, no one around - big bloke...........As I continued past, I thought 'sod it' and went back to see if I could help.

I screeched up beside her as she stood leaning over the bridge, dived out of the car leaving the door open and the car running, and grabbed her arm.

She fell to her knees and absolutley broke her heart right there in front of me. In my efforts to calm her down this girl (25-30) told me that she had been released from prison the week before, had been sleeping rough because her family disowned her and there was no support for her on the outside. She had walked to this bridge (probably 10 miles from the city centre) to throw herself off because there was noone who cared one iota about her.

I felt absolutley helpless but in my mind all the time was the fact that I was on my own with this girl and I was worried about that fact. I managed to flag down a passing woman and I explained the score but she had to get back to work. The second woman I managed to stop was a bit more helpful and sat with this girl while I phoned Gloucester prison to see if there was a support group attached. I got into the usual 'press 1 if you want this, press 2 if you want that, blah blah blah' so I rang the police.

The police asked me to stay with the girl and they would be straight there. In the 5 minutes (gotta say impressed with that) they took to arrive, this girl explained that she got pregnant and then dumped by the boyfriend and in all of the polava, was sent down for something silly. She was actually 6 months pregnant as she sat there in front of me.

Police arrived and took a statement from me and when they started to question the girl, she admitted she was going to jump off the bridge. The copper arrested her under section whatever of the mental health act and off she was carted to the cells.

A few things dawned on me as I got back into my car:

1. How sad is it that I was worried about stopping to help a lone woman
2. I got out of my car and left it open and running - easy to steal
3. and most importantly - my actions have got this girl locked up because I called the police instead of hanging on for the prison service to answer.

It's all a bit weird I have to say.....

[Rogue Monkey]

I think you exhibited a measure of human compassion sadly lacking in today’s consumerist society. The suicide rate amongst the female prison population is rising in Britain all the time. The prison service intends to involve more psychiatric services, so they say! The unfortunate truth is that the NHS can’t fund the present levels of service to its own patients, let alone help the prison service out! It’s all down to money again! Anyway, I think you did the right thing, a commendable act! I deal with suicide and para suicide cases everyday and I would say 99% are for attention, not a true attempt to take one’s life! This case fits the criteria of a serious attempt! The main reason being the deserted nature of the location. There is very little more you could have done, and what you did is way ahead of what most people would do in those circumstances! The other point about being alone with an unknown female is also a sad reflection on our society. I don’t know the answers but I raise my glass to you dude! :)

[WeaverII]

You did the right thing M8.

It's a rotten coment on society that you had to (justifiably) think twice about it. This isn't because so many more terrible things happen today than in the past, either: it's because of the skewed sense of values that victimhood, compensation culture and excessive political correctness have imposed on all of us. Imagine how much MORE apprehensive you'd have been (with how much LESS justification) if it had been a lost child............ :(

[Bosun]

i agree with RM
somewhere inside you found the strength to stop
well done
by your actions you have done more than most

i have never been in such a situuation, but well done

[ForestFred]

I agree also .Well done Jay.

[cxdemon]

Good on you, you may not feel it yet but you may have helped more than you imagine, again well done.

[BikerGran]

Good on you!

Don't beat yourself up about calling the police - it's oiften the only way to get people into the systems that can help them.

In any situation, you can only do the best that you can do, then you have to let it go. You did good.

[Gypsy]

doro says


you saved her life mate regardless of anything else

the police arrested her cos suicide is against the law (should say attempted) and they lock her up for her own safety

am sure mental health system would look after her after a few hours in a cell

as far as being alone with her

I was going to be a teacher but 2nd week of training I was told teachers aren't supposed to pick up kids and hug them if they fall over and hurt themselves

how sad is that? I'm a mother of 3 FFS

I take my hat off to you sir..!!

[Sheltie]

Much respect m8. You did right Remember you didn't just save her life but that also of the baby. Hopefully when things have settled for her she will raise a glass to an upstanding humanbeing.

[guyver1]

Not as dramatic as that but still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I do bike instructing at the weekend, purely voluntary, one of my trainees is a women aged 39, very attractive and really good fun to teach, weve become great mates over the last 5/6 lessons, we text each other and also email each other, my girlfriend knows all about it and is happy that i have a female friend to talk to, i had a barbecue last saturday after training for all the other instructors and i also invited my mate (trainee), the night was a great success without any hitches apart from burnt food, now this trainee, is very VERY insecure about everything, shes losing weight like its going out of fashion and all this is down to the put downs she gets from her boyfriend, i keep telling her shes great and really good looking and she is actually starting to believe in herself, even her sister phones me for a chat now too cos of the help ive being giving, then out of the blue, 12:35am i get a text message saying not to contact her again cos her bloke thinks were screwing each other, first ive even heard anything about texting her, he was there when she asked for my number, and hes texted me a couple of times too, so i do the only sensible thing i can do and pack the bike training in so that way if im not there she cant get into trouble for talking to me, she finds out and ends up spending over an hour crying down the phone to me, i promised to go and give her some support today before her lesson, who turns up but her prick of a bloke, mouthing off that he never even thought that there was anything going on...........what the **** am i supposed to do, i stop training which i love doing to make sure she doesnt get any ****, and i still feel as though ive been caught screwing her behind everyones back...... from now on my number is not given out and ive stopped all bike training.... might aswell live inside a ****ing box :mad:

[big gal]

Hi,i think it is difficult for a woman and a man to be mates without everyone else jumping to conclusions about whether or not there is anything going on. Its sad really. I myself get on better with men as mates than women. I prefer the company of blokes mainly as i am a bit of an tomboy i spose! :confused: Also like to add well done Jay. At least you cared enough to actually stop and help. If it hadnt been for you the girl may not be alive now,so well done.

[Friar Tuck]

Jay, you did well my friend!

Ok, she was arrested under the mental health act. Better than having her jump off the bridge. At least she will get help, and hopefully will recover.

No need to reproach your self, you have a bid heart! There isn't enough people in this world like you.

[triker_gal]

Jay, I think you did the right thing. Afterall what else could you have done? If anything, although the police arrested her, I'm sure she is being taken care of now by people that understand and are specifically trained.

Well done that man I say :)

[Mrs Reject]

Sadly I have become totally selfish when it comes to helping people, everyone I've helped before seems to turn into bunny boilers given half a chance.
Take the latest one, a nurse from work goes off sick suddenly and I say oh here's my number give me a ring if you need to talk etc etc. The bloody woman is never off the phone, in the middle of the night, hours during the day, raving and ranting. She evidently has severe psychological problems which weren't apparent when I worked with her. She rang up my son when we were at the Pissed Indian this weekend and was raving on about how I've helped her find God etc etc (I'm not remotely interested in God ff's never mind helping anyone to find him!!!) Thank goodness she doesn't know where I live, she'd stalk us for sure!!!
Ditto everyone else I've tried to help has become horribly needy and disrupted our lives so now I just don't do it anymore unless it is a known mate who wants something.

[Sir Ewok]

Well done m8, if you didn't save her in the long run, you probably saved the baby.
Years ago I was driving through an east coast town and a woman was running down the middle of a dual carriageway in her nightie. She was obviously distressed and was trying to stop motorists, who didn't want to know. I was in a trannie van and pulled up to see what was up. It was a domestic accident, her young daughter had fallen on a broken bottle and badly gashed her knee, which would not stop bleeding. Her husband had tried to get help on the CB (remember that) and had finally set off to the doctors on his bike. I took her too her house and put pressure on the little'uns wound to stop the copious bleeding. 10 minutes later the old man came back, demanding to know 'What the fuck I was doing there'. No thank you or cheers m8. I told him what to do (first aid wise) and left.

Sometimes helping peeps is a thankless task, but I felt I couldn't leave a kiddie frightened and in pain. The kid was in shock and near to fainting when I got there and when I left she had got some colour back and was calmer.

[Rogue Monkey]

Well done m8, if you didn't save her in the long run, you probably saved the baby.
Years ago I was driving through an east coast town and a woman was running down the middle of a dual carriageway in her nightie. She was obviously distressed and was trying to stop motorists, who didn't want to know. I was in a trannie van and pulled up to see what was up. It was a domestic accident, her young daughter had fallen on a broken bottle and badly gashed her knee, which would not stop bleeding. Her husband had tried to get help on the CB (remember that) and had finally set off to the doctors on his bike. I took her too her house and put pressure on the little'uns wound to stop the copious bleeding. 10 minutes later the old man came back, demanding to know 'What the fuck I was doing there'. No thank you or cheers m8. I told him what to do (first aid wise) and left.

Sometimes helping peeps is a thankless task, but I felt I couldn't leave a kiddie frightened and in pain. The kid was in shock and near to fainting when I got there and when I left she had got some colour back and was calmer.

Its a sad reflection on our present society that people are now afriad to help others for fear of litigation or missunderstanding. I suppose it comes down to personal values! I think you should do wot ya thinks right at the time, even if some might not understand it. At the end o the day its your brain in bed with ya, and if yer not been true to yer own values for fear of what others may think, then I think yer not been true to yerself! I think both yerself and Jay did the right thing. You may not have been thanked for it but you held to your own core values and thats wot counts! Respect! :)

[Tiger Lily]

You did good Jay! ;)