Good Samaritans Save Suicidal Man Sitting In Middle Of Busy Street
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A couple on their way to work Friday stopped to help a man sitting in the middle of busy Cicero Avenue, but little did they know, they had already met him.
Karolina Hogueisson and her husband, Bill, both work at Cook County Jail; he's a correctional officer, and she's a mental health specialist.
As they were diving through heavy traffic on Cicero Avenue past the Ford City Mall, they saw a man sitting in the street.
"It's rush hour traffic. This is just a very busy street." Karolina said.
Bill said the man was sitting "with his head in between his legs, and cars were swerving around him, so we pulled off. We angled our car, and put the hazard lights on, and we went to see what's wrong."
At first they thought he was injured. Then they realized he was suicidal.
"He was saying that he badly wanted to get home and that he hadn't eaten anything; and he showed us his bracelet on his arm, and he explained he'd just gotten out of the county," Bill said. "As we were talking to him, we even realized – both of us – that he was one of our patients."
They were able to get him to safety.
Karolina said the fact they weren't on duty didn't make any difference to them.
"We were on human duty. We were on a duty to other humans," she said.
Karolina said she wonders why nobody else stopped.
"I did see people drive right by. I did. Nobody even stopped to ask if we needed help, helping anyone. That's pretty disheartening. It's pretty bad," she said.