@mspmetrodet/Twitter(DETROIT) — It is an image that left many people speechless.
The scene captured a row of 13 trucks on Tuesday, lined up under an overpass on Interstate 696 in Detroit, Michigan, blocking traffic in both directions.
The story? Michigan State Police had called the truckers to the scene to help them save a man’s life.
According to authorities, the man was atop the overpass and police believed he was about to jump.
When officers arrived on the scene, they calmly talked to him as others took to the highway, flagging down truck drivers.
State police Lt. Michael Shaw said the trucks created a kind of “safety net” under the overpass “to make sure if [the man] moved anywhere in that overpass, there was a semi there.”
“There’s 13 truck drivers that didn’t even know this guy and were willing to slide underneath that overpass to help him,” Shaw said.
Shaw told ABC News today that Tuesday’s effort was the not first time for police.
“We’ve never, ever had a truck driver turn us down,” he said.
He said the man had relayed to the officers that he was having issues with his family. After about four hours, Shaw said, police were able to get the man off the ledge safely.
Later, the department tweeted out the photograph with information about the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
“We always want to make sure that people realize there are so many other options,” Shaw said.
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