Source – Major League Baseball umpire John Tumpane reportedly saved a woman from a railing on the Roberto Clemente Bridge Wednesday afternoon.
According to Stephen J. Nesbitt and Steph Chambers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tumpane saw a woman climbing over a railing above the Allegheny River and went over and “locked both arms around her back.”
“At times, she dangled both feet off the bridge’s edge, putting her full weight in his arms,” Nesbitt and Chambers wrote, but he prevented her from falling to the river until police and an ambulance arrived and helped lift her back over the railing.
Tumpane had an emotional conversation with the woman, making sure to express how much he cared for her despite her protestations to the contrary.
“I was thinking, ‘God, this has got to be a good ending, not a bad ending,’ and held on for dear life,” Tumpane said. “She said, ‘You don’t care about me.’ I said, ‘I care.’ She said, ‘I just want to end it right now. I want to be in a better place.’ I said, ‘You’re going to be all right.'”
A police spokeswoman said the woman was taken to the hospital and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
It was a chance encounter for the umpire before he headed to PNC Park for Wednesday’s contest between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tampa Bay Rays, but he performed a heroic act and likely saved the woman’s life.
“You never know what somebody’s day looks like,” he said, per Nesbitt and Chambers. “It’s a nice day, everyone’s out for a walk, and somebody’s not having the same day you’re having. I was just glad to help.”
“I’ll never forget you.” Earlier today, umpire John Tumpane saved a woman’s life on the Roberto Clemente Bridge. https://t.co/pZzAa2hU4d pic.twitter.com/wBDDHeROUe
— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) June 29, 2017
When the world needs a hero in the shitty day and age we live in, may I present MLB ump John Tumpane.
We love to hate officials, but no one can hate this guy. He’s on his way to PNC Park to call balls and strikes and has no reason to stop and help anyone, and he does. He didn’t just help, but saved, this woman’s life and unspeakable grief for her family, and put himself in harm’s way.
I saw a dude on a motorcycle get smoked by a female driving an SUV the other day, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I didn’t want to be a witness and talk to the police or get blood on my hands helping. As shitty as that sounds, there’s a reason for it. There’s a finite amount of time left, and I didn’t want cops at my house. I sure as fuck didn’t want to have lawyers or insurance tarts depose me for hours on end when I could be poolside or doing anything except recalling a fucking terrible memory.
I don’t have the “JOHN TUMPANE GEAR” which is why I respect what he did. If it was me, that poor lady would be road butter.
