College Football

Watch as policeman talks man out of jumping off bridge by discussing football

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:16 p.m. ET

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Barry Werner

It took quick thinking and football talk for a Master Patrol Officer in South Carolina to convince a man not to jump off a bridge and into traffic last Saturday.

Michael Blackmore's action was caught on body-cam video at 3:45 a.m.

Per The State:

"I have bad nights, too, sometimes," Blackmore told the man.

As they talked, Blackmore made his way closer. The two began to talk football.

"I just wanted to get his mind off of what was bothering him," Blackmore told The State in an interview Thursday.

He found out the man was a fan of the Washington Redskins and the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

"You're just having a bad night tonight," Blackmore told him. "But tomorrow night, when you're sitting around and you're watching the Gamecocks --€“ or on Sunday when you're watching the Redskins play or whatever -- you'll look back (like), 'Man, what was I thinking Friday night?' You're just having a bad night."

Blackmore grabbed the man's hands and other officers helped him over the rail. Blackmore assured the man, who was taken to the hospital, he was not going to jail.

This was not Blackmore's first brush with someone trying to take their life, he says.

A month ago a man was prepared to jump from a parking garage. Once again, football helped lead to a safe ending.

"It was pretty much the same exact thing," Blackmore said. "I ended up talking to the guy about football. He told me he was a Notre Dame fan."

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