KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ask any police officer and they will tell you, no call is ever routine. Sgt. Steven Griswold knows every time he puts on his uniform, anything can happen. This past Saturday, it did.
Sgt. Griswold was sent to I-470, in the Triangle, for a stranded motorist. Knowing it’s a dangerous place to be on the side of the road, Griswold hustled to get there. Before he could get there, he got an interesting update.
“On the way to the stranded motorist, dispatch advised that the stranded motorist called back and said he was interested in jumping off the bridge.” explained Sgt. Griswold.
When Sgt. Griswold arrived on the scene, the man was out of his car leaning on the barrier.
“It was straight down, the next thing below him, lane one of the ramp on to 470 eastbound and nothing to catch him.”
But Sgt. Griswold wasn’t worried, he’s CIT certified, for situations just like this.
“The crisis intervention team officer is trained to deal with people having mental illness issues or enough anxiety they’re just not thinking straight we’re trained to difuse those types of situations.”
But this time was much different. Sgt. Griswold got out of his car and hadn’t opened his mouth, when the man flung his body over the side. Sgt. Griswold literally lept into action.
“I was going to go up and say, ‘Hey man, whats going on? Let’s get off this bridge and talk.’ But he didn’t give me a chance to do that he started going over, so at that point I guess I was in the right place at the right time and i jumped over there and grabbed him by the legs and pulled him back over.”
Another CIT officer was able to get the man talking and eventually get the man the help he needed. As for Sgt. Griswold, he’s deflecting any talk of heroism. Instead, he said that night was pretty busy and he just wanted to get back on the streets and help his officers.
“I came, he jumped, I caught him, done, we got him the help he needed and ready for the next call.” said Sgt. Griswold.
Quick and to the point, but a classic example of a “routine” call handled by police.
