Pitt officer recognized for Hulton Bridge rescue
Occurred week before Clemente Bridge rescue
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The week before a Major League Baseball umpire received considerable praise for coaxing a woman off the edge of the Roberto Clemente Bridge, a University of Pittsburgh police officer made a similar, quick-thinking rescue near Oakmont.
Around 8:15 p.m. June 21, Officer Mario Devine, 26, of Plum, was off-duty, driving home after participating in a softball game, when he did a double take. Crossing the Hulton Bridge — which spans the Allegheny River between Oakmont and Harmar — he noticed a woman walking alongside the fourlane bridge, where there is no sidewalk. As he got closer, he saw her step up to the concrete barrier toward the water, he said.
Officer Devine drove over the bridge and spotted two men in a parking lot. They told him the woman had just walked by saying she was going to commit suicide, he said. Officer Devine told them he was a police officer, asked them to call 911 and pulled up alongside the woman.
He got out of his car, went over to her and identified himself. She was in tears and difficult to understand, he said. As cars passed them on the bridge, he began to speak quietly to her.
“I was really just trying to get her calmed down. I wanted to find out what the issue was and I really wanted to help her,” he said. “I wanted to let her know that no matter how bad it is, it always gets better.”
A few minutes later, the woman’s fiancee, also a woman, arrived on the bridge and screamed out her name, Officer Devine said. He decided it was the right time to act: he grabbed the woman’s arms and pulled her off the ledge, then handcuffed her for safety, he said.
Less than a minute later, he said, Oakmont police arrived and took her in an ambulance. Further information on the woman’s condition could not be released due to medical privacy laws, Oakmont Police Chief Michael Ford said.
As Officer Devine drove home, he thought about the woman and hoped she would find the help she needed, he said. But he did not immediately tell his family about what had happened.
A week later, when Pitt’s office
of the chancellor chose Officer Devine for its first Extra Mile Award to recognize his action, he finally told his family about the rescue.
That was the same week umpire John Tumpane rescued a woman on the Clemente Bridge as he was walking back from lunch, action that drew widespread attention.
“I’m not at all surprised that he stopped for help, and I’m even less surprised that he didn’t tell anyone about it for a week,” said Officer Devine’s brother, Mike Devine, of Plum. “He’s not an attention-seeking guy.”
On July 27, in a small ceremony in the office of Pitt chancellor Patrick D. Gallagher, Mr. Gallagher presented Officer Devine with a certificate in front of family and colleagues.
“My brother was humble about it, saying he did what anyone would have done,” Mike Devine said. “The chancellor stopped him right there and said, ‘No, most people would have just driven by.’ ”
The award was created to recognize Officer Devine’s actions, said Pitt spokeswoman Kathryn Fike. It may be given again, but only if the occasion warrants it.
Ted Fritz, Pitt associate vice chancellor for public safety and emergency preparedness, said Officer Devine’s actions are “a tangible example of being a caring University of Pittsburgh employee, the kind of person that makes Pitt a special place.”
Officer Devine has been a patrolman on the Pitt police force for 2 1/2 years. Before that, he worked as a safety officer at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.
“I’ve dealt with people going through tough times,” he said. “I think I had a pretty good understanding of what to do.”
Officer Devine also went through Allegheny County’s Crisis Intervention Team training with the Pitt police force, which taught him how to communicate with people in distress, he said.
“I think I did what anyone would do in this situation, especially any police officer,” he said. “I’m just doing my job.”