Driver describes moment he helped stop man jumping off 527 overpass

Brian Valdiva was on his way to get a new tattoo on Saturday morning when he spotted the man — a man who was standing on the State Route 527 overpass in Bothell, staring down at the cars speeding under him on I-405.

Instinctively, Valdiva knew that the man was not just taking in the view.

“I’m just kind of like, ‘This isn’t right, you know?'” he told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

When the man started climbing over the railing, Valdiva knew he had just seconds to get out of his car and intervene in what was a literal life-and-death matter — so, after making sure there was no one behind him, he reversed his truck back up the northbound 405 on-ramp to get back up to the 527 overpass.

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“I just put it in reverse, I’m burning tire, I hear my tires squealing, and I had to stop because I thought I was going to hit somebody,” he said. “I keep looking, I’m looking at Anthony [the man on the overpass], and he’s still there, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this guy could let go at any moment.’ And I just floor it.”

Valdiva stopped his car, ran to the railing, and climbed up to grab the man in a bear-hug, not worrying about the danger to himself if Anthony, who is bigger than Valdiva, were to let go and pull him along.

“I was halfway over the bridge, too, when I finally reached to him and squeezed him and brought him over and hugged him … if he were to make his option of just letting go, it would have been just me and him,” he said.

With the help of Valdiva and four other Good Samaritans who stopped to provide aid, Anthony was pulled to safety.

They soothed the man as he cried and explained the circumstances that had led him to want to end his life — a bad breakup, a stressful job, and financial difficulties. Valdiva had to essentially sit on Anthony to stop him from going back to the railing, which he attempted.

Law enforcement soon arrived and got Anthony to treatment. Valdiva has not heard what happened to him in the three days since, but said that he would “absolutely” be his friend if Anthony reaches out.

Valdiva did still get his tattoo that day  — two hands around a rosary. It’s a spiritual image he had planned to get for months, but now it will be a symbol of what he experienced with five strangers on that overpass.

“I had something to remember this day with,” he said.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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