Sergeant Kurt Seckinger was doing a routine patrol when he saw a car with hazard lights by the bridge over I-75 on Rumble Road.
As he got closer, he saw a woman sitting on the edge of the bridge. It was in that moment he felt the woman suffering.
"There's so many people out there that can help you. Please give me the chance to help," Seckinger said recounting the moment.
He told the young woman to give him a chance.
"I could tell she was in emotional distress, shaking her head, 'no'," he said.
The woman repeated that she had tried everything but felt like this was her last option. But Monroe County deputies go through crisis intervention training. Seckinger wasn't giving up. He thought through his that very training and focused on getting her off the bridge.
"I was just able to maybe let her see that she wasn't making the right decisions and to give us a chance," he said. "And it all turned out for the best."
After about 15 minutes, she finally stepped off the ledge and Seckinger hugged her.
"Thank you for doing that," he said as she cried. "Thank you. Thank you."
"She was stronger than me because she was able to change her mind from what she wanted to do," Seckinger said.
He said that, without a doubt, anyone would have done what he did. But he was in the right place at exactly the right time.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office was able to get the woman into an in-house program, and they say she is doing very well now.