It’s not clear from video footage or the incident report why the man was ready to jump. He can be heard on video telling officers that he’s tired of living. But the 35-year-old Master Patrol Officer Michael Blackmore wouldn’t accept that.
“I have bad nights, too, sometimes,” Blackmore told him.
As they talked, Blackmore made his way closer. The two began to talk football.
“I just wanted to get his mind off of what was bothering him,” Blackmore told The State in an interview Thursday.
He found out the man was a fan of the Washington Redskins and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.
“You’re just having a bad night tonight,” Blackmore told him. “But tomorrow night, when you’re sitting around and you’re watching the Gamecocks – or on Sunday when you’re watching the Redskins play or whatever – you’ll look back (like), ‘Man, what was I thinking Friday night?’ You’re just having a bad night.”
Finally, Blackmore was able to grab the man’s wrist with both hands, and his two fellow officers – Charles Browder and Jessica Nolan – helped lift the man back over the railing. Blackmore reassured the man he wasn’t in trouble and wasn’t going to jail.
As the man stepped into the ambulance, responders allowed themselves a brief moment of thanksgiving – with one EMS worker high-fiving Blackmore before closing the ambulance doors.
The man was taken to Palmetto Health Richland hospital, according to the incident report.
