A HEROIC policeman saved the life of a suicidal man threatening to throw himself from a footbridge onto a busy road below.
PC James Hartland was first on the scene when the emergency call came through on his radio while he was out on foot patrol in Perivale.
The Safer Neighbourhood Team officer raced to the overpass, near the Hoover Building, with a colleague and saw a man in his 50s gripping the handrail in distress. He radioed his position to other officers and went up to him, not knowing if the man was dangerous, at about 1.30pm last Tuesday (14).
The 31 year-old officer said: "He was visibly shaking and was with another man who looked like he was trying to console him.
"I believed if I didn't act he would jump.
I didn't know if he would become violent but my training and adrenaline kicked in and I took him by the arm and led him down to the side of the A40.
"Even then he kept trying to walk out onto the road, I just kept trying to reassure him that I was here to help.
"I decided to section him under the Mental Health Act for his own safety."
The man was taken to Ealing Hospital by police van and was joined by his wife who was full of praise for PC Hartland, knowing that he had saved her husband's life.
But the modest officer of seven years experience merely said: "I was just doing my job."
For more tales of heroic officers see the Gazette next week for full coverage of Ealing Police commendations.
