Original article no longer available
The Herald-Standard
By Josh Krysak, Herald-Standard
08/28/2007 Updated 08/27/2007 09:15:06 PM EDT
When two area security guards set out for work Monday, they never expected to save a life on the way.
However, as they headed into West Brownsville, they did just that.
An unidentified woman franticly stopped Michael Lubinsky of California and Christopher Mickulicz of Blainesburg – both correctional officers in training at SCI Fayette – in their car on the West Brownsville Bridge around 1:25 p.m.
As she screamed for help, the officers realized a boy was standing on the other side of the railing and appeared ready to jump.
“The car stopped in front of us and the woman got out and we thought something had happened to her car,” Mickulicz said. “But she started asking if we would help and then we saw the child standing on the other side of the railing and we realized what was going on.”
“We got out of our vehicle and ran over to the side of the bridge,” Lubinsky said. “We grabbed the kid while his mother, the woman who stopped us, grabbed his arms and shirt. And we just pulled him in.”
Lubinsky said the 15-year-old, who was not identified, had gotten out of his mother’s car while traveling on the bridge and run to the edge of the bridge deck threatening to commit suicide.
“He kept saying he was depressed and his medication wasn’t working,” Lubinsky said. “He was just holding on with his arms.”
Mickulicz said after they pulled the teen to safety, the officers called 911 and waited for emergency personnel to arrive.
“It was real emotional. After we pulled her son over the two of them were just hugging and crying,” Mickulicz said.
“We were just in the right place in the right time,” Lubinsky said. “Any good Samaritan would have done the same.”
The condition of the boy was not released.