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5 NYC cops rescue man dangling from span

By Richard Weir
The New York Daily News
March 24, 2001

(New York City, NY) - A bear of a man was prevented from killing himself yesterday by two Manhattan cops who grabbed him as he dangled from the Williamsburg Bridge, police said.Officers Salvatore Tudisco and Umberto Guardino were patrolling the lower East Side when they got a report that a man was about to leap off the span.

The 38-year-old man, who police said weighed about 300 pounds, had abandoned his Ford Taurus in the bridge’s Manhattan-bound lane just before 7 p.m., halting rush-hour traffic.

He then crossed over to the Brooklyn-bound side and was hanging onto a railing some 200 feet above the East River when the officers arrived.

Tudisco and Guardino grabbed the man’s arms and held him until three more cops arrived. The five officers then pulled him to safety.

The man, whose name was not released, was taken to Woodhull Hospital for psychiatric observation.

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