Officer pulls pursuit suspect off highway bridge

A California Highway Patrol officer pulled a pursuit suspect off the edge of an Interstate 215 bridge as he appeared to be threatening to jump to avoid arrest following a two-hour high speed chase Monday.

The man, bald and with his chest bared, was straddling the bridge sidewall and holding a long piece of metal when an officer sneaked up behind him as he was facing a half-dozen other officers including one with a police dog.

The officer pulled him back onto the roadway as the other officers swarmed in.

“The officer at the end that came in and pulled him off the bridge in my opinion is a hero,” CHP Officer Brian Alvarez told the San Bernardino Sun. “I believe he put his life at risk to get the gentleman off the edge of the bridge.”

The man, Joseph Nader, 51, of Los Angeles, shouted that he had been looking for work and for mental health help before he was grabbed.

Paramedics treated cuts to his knees and feet, probably suffered when the officer grabbed him, authorities said.

The pursuit, covered by TV news helicopters, began some two hours earlier in the Southern California inland region east of Los Angeles.

Nader drove on several freeways, finally pulled to the side of Interstate 215, armed himself with the metal object object and walked away from officers to the nearby overpass.

Nader was arrested on suspicion of stealing a vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs, resisting arrest and other potential charges.

He did not yet have an attorney who could comment, authorities said.

— The Associated Press