A national expert on suicide said the quick actions and gentle, empathetic, caring words uttered Wednesday by Major League Baseball umpire John Tumpane were exactly what a woman needed to hear before she was rescued from a presumed suicide attempt on the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
“I thought it was a fantastic instinct on his part,” said Christine Moutier, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “It’s exactly what our education program teaches to help people realize what they can do.”
Dr. Moutier, a psychiatrist, said Mr. Tumpane provided the distressed woman with the connection she obviously needed as she stood on the other side of the bridge railing overlooking the Allegheny River.