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Sunday 24 September 2017

'We are too young to see someone die': What teens told suicidal man as they fought to stop him taking his own life




Two hero schoolboys told today how they grabbed a suicidal man about to leap from a bridge and saved his life by refusing to let go.
Haci Demir and George Sofioniou cajoled the distressed man, urged him to think of his family and then pleaded: “Please don’t do this, we are too young to see someone die.”
As the desperate 21-year-old grappled with them, determined to jump into traffic below, the two boys tightened their grip and waited for help to arrive.
The harrowing 10-minute drama was caught on mobile phone. The boys had started to film the man, believing he was carrying out a stunt on the bridge.
Police vowed to honour the 15-year-olds and two other schoolboys, including a 12-year-old boy who helped the rescue. Shaken Haci and George told how they raced to the man’s aid as he perched 25ft above the A10 in Waltham Cross, Herts.
George said: “We knew we had to step in and stop it, but we were really scared as we didn’t want to see him fall.
“If he jumped I knew I would never stop thinking about it. It would have changed our lives forever.
“He was in a very distressed state and it was clear he had every intention of jumping off that bridge.”
Haci – who has had nightmares about Thursday’s drama – added: “I was shaking and my heart was beating so fast. Every time I think about it it’s made me upset.”
The man was moments from joining more than 6,000 Brits who commit suicide every year.
A Samaritans report revealed men are three times more likely to end their lives and suicide is the biggest killer of males under the age of 40.
The Sunday Mirror’s Time To Change campaign urges people to talk more openly about mental health issues in order to lift the stigma and save lives.
Haci and George told how they were walking home from an after-school ­revision session at St Mary’s C of E High School in Cheshunt when they saw the man at 5pm on Thursday. His legs were hanging off the side of the bridge and they believed he was a daredevil.
Haci said: “I thought it was a joke. I thought he was going to slide down or something. I started recording him.
“But then I saw he was really distressed and I knew it was serious.”
The teen, who lives within sight of the Paul Culley bridge, rang police then begged the man to come to safety.
Haci went on: “I knew I couldn’t just watch this. We tried to convince him to stop. I told him: ‘Don’t do this, your family loves you, think about your mum, your dad, your wife’. I kept saying this to make him calm down but he just ignored us. He was getting ready to jump off.”
As the man slipped from the top of the bridge down to a thin ledge, the brave boys rushed forward and grabbed him through the railings.
George gripped his jumper around the neck while Haci grabbed his hips. An unnamed 12-year-old held the man’s ankles before dashing off to call for help.
It took all of the lads’ strength to hold the man as he wrestled to free himself from their grasp, trying to push them away with his arms as he leaned forward.
Haci said: “He was crying and shaking so much. He was really fighting us but we wouldn’t let go.
“As we held him I said: ‘you can’t do this man, think about your life. Only God can take your life, you can’t do this’. When that didn’t work I told him: ‘Please don’t do this, I’m too young to see this’.
“The only thing he said to us was: ‘If my mum calls tell her that I love her’.” George, from nearby Enfield, told how some passersby ignored their struggle as they crossed the bridge.
He said: “It was a natural instinct to step in to help.
“But it was pretty traumatising to see people walking past ignoring the ­situation. I thought it was disgusting.”
Thankfully, other strangers did step in, with as many as seven people struggling to hold on to the man. They included Joanne Stammers, 47, who has Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome, making her highly prone to blood clots.
George continued: “The police came and handcuffed his arms around the bars. You could see on his face at that point that he knew it was over.”
The shocked schoolboy went home and broke the news to his parents Stella, 43, and Michael Sofioniou, 45 – who were celebrating their 20th anniversary.
Haci and his mum Dilek Demir, ­meanwhile, looked on from their home close to the bridge as police and a fire crew eventually helped the man down.
Dilek, 35, told how the incident had affected her son. She said: “I’m worried for Haci. At bedtime he sits on his bed and says he can’t sleep. He dreams he’s on the bridge, that he’s jumping and the people are not holding him.”
Haci admitted: “It keeps coming into my head. I just want to forget about it. But I am happy I saved his life.”
George added: “I am proud we did manage to help him.” The boys will be recognised by police for their actions. Chief Inspector Ian Butler, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: “I am in no doubt that the actions of the four boys and a woman who also helped saved this man’s life. I will be recommending them for the highest possible bravery award. A number of other people also stopped to assist and I will be looking at recognising their actions as well.”
The man was taken to hospital after the drama but is now recovering back at home.
His grandmother said: “We are so grateful to the boys. It wasn’t an easy thing to do and they were very brave. And thank you to the other men and women that assisted.”

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