A team of volleyball players out for a jog are being hailed heroes after talking down a woman apparently contemplating taking her own life.
A team of volleyball players out for a jog are being hailed heroes after talking down a woman apparently contemplating taking her own life.
That day, Coach Elliott Murray of the Kepler Neighborhood School in Fresno, California, had asked his team to run a slightly different route.
"I said, 'Guys, we gonna run across the bridge,' and the guys were really happy about that because this is something different, and they'd really be able to get some conditioning in," Murray told Inside Edition.
It turned out to be a lifesaving decision.
As the teens were running across the bridge, they spotted a woman who seemed to be about to jump.
At first, they didn't know what to do.
"We knew what was happening, we were scared," said student Branden Ezell. "... We froze up. But once we processed what was happening, we immediately decided to go tell our coach."
"They were like, 'Coach! Coach! A lady is trying to jump from the bridge,'" recalled Murray. "At this point, I'm thinking, 'This can't be.'"
He continued: "I see the lady hanging from the bridge. And I told these guys, 'Go up there, say whatever you can, say your life matters. Say whatever you can to distract her while I call 911.'"
And they did.
"We were saying like, 'You know, your life matters. Your life is worth it. Think about like, the good times instead of the bad times,'" said Branden.
The woman eventually pulled herself back to safety, according to Murray. "I truly believe she said to herself, 'I can't do that in front of these kids,'" he said.
"I felt good about knowing that it was a part of saving her life," Branden said.
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