Police dashcam video shows Topsham officer save woman from jumping off bridge
By Jim Keithley
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TOPSHAM, Maine (WMTW) — A Topsham police officer is being hailed as a hero for springing into action and saving a woman from jumping off a bridge, a rescue that was captured by his dashboard camera.
Officer Lucas Shirland responded to the Merrymeeting Bridge in early October and found an older woman sitting on the railing of the bridge, which carries Route 196 over the Androscoggin River from Brunswick to Topsham.
“I asked: ‘Can I talk to you?’ She looks at me and shakes her head yes, but then I noticed she looked down back towards the river and then scooches closer to the edge,” Shirland said. “It was just gut reaction. I just reached out, grabbed her and pulled her over the railing and back to the sidewalk.”
The woman was taken to a hospital for further evaluation. Shirland said the woman told him she had gone to the hospital earlier in the day and asked for help.
“I hate saying it, but we bring them to the emergency room and it’s like a revolving door and they are back out on the street,” Shirland said. “It could be an hour or two later and then we could be dealing with them again.”
Shirland said more needs to be done, including adding inpatient beds to handle the cases that continue to increase.
“We deal with mental health calls on a daily basis, multiple times a day,” he said.
This is not the first incident on the Merrymeeting Bridge involving someone in the throes of a mental health crisis.
In January, police shot and tased a man after authorities said he came at them with a machete. He survived. In February 2022, a woman threatened suicide and was fatally shot after police said she pointed a gun at them. The Maine Attorney General’s Office ruled that the shootings were justified.
Topsham police Chief Marc Hagan said all officers are required to take crisis intervention training. But in this most recent case, Shirland said instinct kicked in.
“She said she’s been suffering from depression for many years and just wanted to end it,” Shirland said. “I was just doing my job and, hopefully, she gets the help she needs.”
There are resources available through Sweetser and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. People can call or text 988 to receive help from a trained counselor.
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