Saved From Suicide

“I was riding on bus 901 over the Coronado Bridge [on December 4] when I saw two guys who were fighting with an old man,” recounts Paul Borja. Actually, the “fighting” Borja saw was a struggle to save an elderly man from jumping off the Coronado bridge. Edgar Gonzalez and Peter Tegel risked their lives to prevent the suicide.

“Pete [Tegel] noticed a car parked mid-span in the center lane, of the bridge,” said Len Kaine, an associate of Tegel’s. “He then saw a man hanging on the outside of the bridge railing, preparing to jump. Cars were passing by, but Pete chose to stop. He jumped out and ran to the man. He grabbed him and tried to pull him back onto the bridge. The man was too big for Pete to do it alone, so he hung on tight.

“The elderly man kept saying he was ready to die, but Pete, being the good Christian that he is, hung on for dear life. Another car stopped and now Pete had help keeping the man from jumping to his death. An off-duty policeman, on his own motorcycle, also stopped to help. Pete and these two gentlemen were able to get the distraught man safely back onto the bridge.”