LIFE-SAVING EFFORT
Jonathan Eder jumped out of his car and ran to help a suicidal man on the other side of a fence on the overpass at Circle Drive West and Idylwyld Drive on the evening of June 16. He and others held on to the man until emergency responders arrived.
Jonathan Eder was driving up the ramp from Idylwyld Drive to Circle Drive on a rainy first date last month when he saw a man on the wrong side of the security fencing at the Circle Drive overpass.
Eder didn’t think; he just acted. He blew a red light, parked and ran toward the man, who was barefoot and crying.
The distressed man, who Eder refers to as Steve (not his real name), had somehow made it out near the middle of the overpass with his back to the roaring traffic below and his face to the chain-link security fence designed to keep pedestrians from falling into Circle Drive. Eder doesn’t know how Steve did it; there was hardly any ledge for him to have walked on.
Eder wasn’t the only bystander to rush to Steve’s aid. Eder said he and another helper shoved as much of their hands as they could through the chain-link fence and grabbed Steve’s hands. Eder said he shoved the thumb, forefinger and middle finger of each hand through a single loop of the fence and grabbed Steve’s right hand, holding it to the fence. The other helper did the same, grabbing Steve’s left hand.
“I’m just holding onto him for dear life with three fingers through the fence,” Eder recalled.
Eder said it was before 8 p.m. on June 16 when he and the helper grabbed Steve’s hands. Amid the confusion, he said his date and two women who had been travelling with the other helper eventually called 911 while Eder and the helper talked to Steve, who told them he was hearing voices and wanted to kill himself.
Eder says he and the other helper held Steve’s hands for about 20 minutes before police officers and fire fighters arrived. They asked Steve about his life and told him people — including them — cared for him.
Const. Mikhaila Bird, a spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service, said officers received the call about the incident at 8:05 p.m. and arrived three minutes later.
The fire department said in a news release that a fire engine, rescue unit, aerial ladder truck and battalion chief were dispatched after receiving a call at 8:13 p.m.
At one point, as a fire truck with ladders set up to rescue Steve from below, Eder said Steve tried to leap off the overpass and the other helper lost his grip on Steve’s left hand.
“It was just me holding onto his one hand,” Eder said. “I thought he was gone. And I held him and that’s probably what hurt my hands probably most because I’ve never held onto anything that tight.”
Firefighters eventually used bolt cutters to cut through the fence and pull the man to safety.
Eder said the whole experience — from the time he grabbed Steve’s hands to the time Steve was pulled through the fence — lasted about 40 minutes. For most of that time he was staring directly into Steve’s eyes and holding his hand.
“It was pretty traumatic, pretty scary,” Eder said.
After Steve was taken away by emergency responders and Eder gave his contact information to police officers on scene, Eder and his date went to Original Joe’s for a beer and a waitress brought Eder ice for his aching hands.
Eder runs his own electrical company and wasn’t able to work for the next couple of days because the meat of his hands was swollen and his fingers were “kind of kinked.”
He wonders how Steve is doing, but knows he has no right to know. He’s also been having nightmares since the incident and said he didn’t understand why the police victim services unit never reached out to him.
Following an email inquiry from the Starphoenix, Bird said officers were “grateful” for Eder’s assistance and “recognize that he is experiencing difficulties since the incident.” She said someone from victim services would reach out to him “as soon as they can.” Someone contacted Eder on Monday.
Eder says he’s working through the incident by talking about it with family and friends. That’s one of the reasons he wants to share his story; that and the fact that he wants people to know there are still people trying to do good in a world that has so recently been a scary and confusing place and where people are being asked to keep their distance from others.
“Everyone’s hurting right now, everyone’s scared of COVID, with good reason, but when it’s something like this, you just gotta go,” Eder said. “There were five or six people at the very beginning (helping Steve) before the (police) got there ... it was a really beautiful thing to see.”
■ If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of self harm or experiencing suicidal thoughts, please contact: Crisis Services Canada (1-833-456-4566), Saskatoon Mobile Crisis (306-933-6200), Prince Albert Mobile Crisis Unit (306-764-1011), Regina Mobile Crisis Services (306-525-5333) or the Hope for Wellness Help Line, which provides culturally competent crisis intervention counselling support for Indigenous peoples at (1-855-242-3310).
I thought he was gone. And I held him and that’s probably what hurt my hands probably most because I’ve never held onto anything that tight.