This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time.
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Kevin is a former sergeant in the California Highway Patrol. And most of us know that by the word chips. But he's also known as the Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge. because he's persuaded over 200 people. From taking their lives by jumping off the 245-foot span across the Golden Gate Strait.
Here's Kevin describing one of his experiences. trying to prevent a man. from jumping off the bridge. I believe it was July 22nd of 2013. This gentleman was from New Jersey, had flown all the way out to the bridge.
extremely intelligent guy. I think he was just 32. And he had been suffering for a long time. With bipolar, and he felt he was not getting the treatment that he should. One of the biggest things also was he was gay, family was Jewish, and he did not want to tell his father that he was gay.
We talked for about an hour. And then This gentleman asked us if we knew the story of Pandora's box. And I said yes. I didn't remember it really all that fantastic, but Apparently Zeus created Pandora and sent her down to earth with a box. and said never ever ever open this box.
Well, of course she does, and out flies all sorts of plagues and sorrows and things against man. The only good thing to come out of that box was hope.
Now this individual stops for a second, looks at us, and says, When I opened the box, Hope is the greatest evil. And that was so profound. He was just a genius, not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. But I didn't know what to say after that. I have never heard something like that.
We were awestruck. I didn't know how to respond to this. And he was sitting on that cord facing northbound. And he just he sat up straight. He'd look straight ahead.
and I saw a tear come down his right eye, He just leaned to his right. And he was gone. Uh The bridge, it's about 1.7 miles long. From the roadway down to the water, it's about 220 feet. And then from the top of the towers, there's two towers: North Tower and South Tower.
That is about 750 feet above the water. And then we have about a four foot, four and a half foot rail, and on the other side of that is like an I-beam, and we call it the cord, C-H-O-R-D. That's where most folks will go when they're contemplating suicide and getting ready for it, they will stand over the rail on this court. The bridge gets visited by millions of people every year. Hundreds of thousands cross it in vehicles every day, commuting to and from the city.
And until just a couple of years ago, it was the number one spot in the United States for loss of life to suicide. I crossed that bridge many, many, many times. Until I was with the patrol and started working on that bridge, did I see and realize how many people came to that bridge to jump? I would average four to six cases a month. I didn't know what to say, how to approach, what to do.
Am I responsible if they jump? I mean, this was horrendous. What a disservice to those folks and myself and the other officers that would do this type of work. I went through crisis intervention team training, what we call CIT, and then went through the FBI crisis negotiators course. But most of the things that I learned were unfortunately on the backs of those folks that I spoke with.
So, what we would look for is generally people who are solo by themselves. Maybe they have a backpack on, you know, their belongings. And maybe they're pacing up and down the bridge, and they'll come up to the bridge and walk around for a while. Then maybe they'll come off the bridge and then they'll go back on. These are things that we would look for, and then we would want to contact them.
Just to see how they are doing.
Sometimes they get angry, people get embarrassed, walk off the bridge. But if we can get to them. You know, before they get over that ray on the stand on this I-beam, most of the time, if we get a chance to talk to folks. then we can get them off of that bridge. I would come up and just introduce myself.
I raise my right hand, I introduce myself as Kevin. and I try to get their first name. And if I can get that, try to personalize everything. A lot of times they'll want to talk, and that's fantastic. The longer I can keep you here, the better.
I think it takes so much courage. to go over that rail. Imagine the courage that it takes to come back over. I want them to make up that mind that they want to live.
So if I can come up with you know what Help me understand. What's going on with you?
So they see, actually, there's somebody here that's listening, that's not trying to fix anything. that just wants to be here and is actually concerned for me.
Sometimes this is the first time that that has actually happened to them.
So I'm there as long as it takes. You have me. You have. My whole, you know, my whole essence here with you.
So we're going through this together. This is the reason why I don't grab people. I want them to come back over on their own. I think that takes a hell of a lot of courage. And if they do that, I think their chances of survival long term are much, much better.
A lot of times, when somebody says something like, The world's a better place without me, I'm a burden to everybody, they haven't even really checked with those folks. Have you talked? with your family and friends about this.
Well No, I haven't, but this is how I feel. And a lot of times, this is years in the making, lots of different things, maybe divorce, loss of income. Illness in their own with their own selves.
So, what has been going on? I want to try to figure that out. What's the history behind this? And then what can we do? to make things better for this particular time.
For this particular half hour, one hour, whatever it is, to get them past this crisis. Because I know if we can get them past this. A lot of times they will not attempt again. It's just a matter of getting them the right help.
So my job is to get them past this immediate crisis. I'm a big believer in finding reason, purpose, and hope. If not all three, at least one.
So I had an elderly gentleman Over the rail, small in stature. I don't even know how he got over the rail. He, this guy, he had had a very, very tough life, drugs and alcohol all his life. Beaten down, hard to get a job. He had just had enough.
He's just tired. He Was given almost pretty much a very small apartment shared with other people. In San Francisco, in an area called the Tenderloin, which is a very, very tough area of San Francisco. And he was talking to me. He was fine talking.
He was not under the influence at the time, but he had just had enough. He says, Life has just kicked me from day one. you know of course my own bad choices and he's self he's he's admitting all of this And I'm thinking, how in the hell can I find a reason, purpose, a hope for this gentleman? And I'm trying to come up with things to talk about. The longer we can talk, the better.
Try to develop that rapport.
So in speaking with him, I asked him. I've read a lot of things to talk about. That's why I asked him. You know, what is your place like down in the tenderloin? I've never been to an apartment there.
He's telling me, it's terrible. It's there terrible. He goes, it is just me. I have my own apartment. It's very small.
All I have is a bed. A set of drawers on top of that set of drawers, I have my goldfish. And a couple other things, and it clicked in my head: well, you're a goldfish.
Well, let's talk about your goldfish. Goldfish have a name. And he told me the goldfish's name, which I don't remember, but. He had no friends, no family, nothing, so he spoke about this goldfish.
Now, many many times in my experience, I have seen That when people come up to that bridge, they have not planned. anything after that.
So, in keeping with this, I asked him, Sir, If you jump today, and I really don't want you to, I'm here for you. Who's going to feed your goldfish? He actually came back over because of this goldfish, knowing that it's going to die because nobody's going to feed it. We Anybody, I must say, we're all negotiators at some point. We're all guardians of things.
We need to learn how to talk to folks and try to find that reason, purpose, and hope, if at all possible. Uh And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery and Reagan Habib. And the book is The Guardians of the Golden Gate Bridge. The author is Kevin Briggs. You've just heard him tell his story.
And you can go to pivotalpoints.com to book him as a speaker and learn more about his work and efforts on mental health and suicide prevention. We talked about that. story of the man leaning over and jumping. And imagine being the guy tasked with trying to stop a person committing suicide. and watching it happen.
But for all those times, that didn't happen.
Well, this was his reason, his hope. Kevin's in in Kevin's purpose. was to prevent those suicides. The Story of the Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge Kevin Briggs' story and the many lives saved by his work. Here on Our American Stories.
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