MLB Umpire Keeps Woman From Jumping Off Bridge

PITTSBURGH, PA — A Major League Baseball umpire who worked Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Pirates game is credited with preventing a woman from jumping off the Roberto Clemente Bridge into the Allegheny River.

John Tumpane was walking across the bridge around 3 p.m. when he noticed the woman climb over a railing and stare down to the river.

“Obviously, that grabbed my attention,” Tumpane told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I asked a couple in front of me, ‘What’s this lady trying to do?’ and they said, ‘I don’t know.’” The umpire told the newspaper that he engaged the woman in conversation, and she said she wanted to get a better look of the city. Tumpane said he hooked his arms around hers and offered to take her to lunch and talk.

As they spoke, the woman began crying and tried to free herself from Tumpane’s grip. Two passersby helped keep the woman from jumping until police arrived. They fitted her with a life preserver and handcuffed one of her wrists to the bridge.

The woman later was taken to a local hospital. Tumpane, 34, later worked behind home plate at the Pirates-Tampa Bay Rays game.

“It was an unbelievable day,” Tumpane said at PNC Park following the incident. “I’m glad to say she has another day with us, and I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time...I’m just glad it’s a positive story and not a sad story.”

Photo via Associated Press