A deputy with the Fredericksburg, Virginia, sheriff’s office — all while dressed as Mrs. Claus — helped rescue a woman who was attempting to jump from a bridge this week.
Lt. Tabatha Merrell had attended Fredericksburg’s Public Safety Santa Run on Tuesday, dressed as Mrs. Claus. While she was driving home from the community function, still in costume, Merrell spotted a woman peering out over the Falmouth Bridge.
Merrell was on the phone with her mother at the time, but she decided to double back due to an uneasy feeling she had about the woman.
“I saw that the young lady at this point, she started out with just her upper body hanging over the railing looking into the river,” Merrell told WTOP. “She had actually progressed to have her left leg over the railing and her upper body over the railing as well. She was just hanging on by her last leg, so I knew right away, clearly, this wasn’t good.”
The lieutenant didn’t want to say that a jump from the bridge would have been deadly, but the Rappahannock River’s rocky bed nearly 25 feet down — especially with the water being as frigid as it was — was no doubt dangerous.
Merrell turned on her police lights and called for backup right away before she began using crisis intervention techniques with the 25-year-old woman.
Sgt. Aimee Lynch from Fredericksburg Police Department soon joined Merrell, and the two slowly inched their way closer to the woman while continuing their conversation with her. Eventually, both officers were close enough to the woman that they could each grab a side of her and safely pull her away from the ledge.
Coincidentally, Merrell was taking a different route home when she first spotted the woman.
“Call it a sixth sense. Call it my gut. It’s like I told my mom, I said, ‘Something just does not feel right,'” Merrell said. “I think that we were there at the right time. I don’t necessarily feel like a hero. I’m glad that I trusted my instincts.”
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital where she is receiving mental health
assistance.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
WTOP’s John Aaron contributed to this report.
