Rookie cop talks girl,12, out of jumping from 80-foot bridge

SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. -- A California police officer apparently saved a 12-year-old girl who fled a group home with the intention of jumping to her death, reports CBS Los Angeles.

Officer Chris Perez said he was on patrol in the area of York Bridge in South Pasadena, Calif., at about 6:50 p.m. Tuesday when he was flagged down by bystanders. They told him a girl was sitting near the edge of the bridge, threatening to jump.

The child - whom police described as sobbing and desperate - was holding onto the bridge with just one hand, which stands about 80 feet over asphalt.

Perez told CBS Los Angeles that he walked to the area where the 12-year-old girl was dangling.

The rookie officer asked if he could come closer to speak to her more personally, and she said he could.

She told him she wanted to be reunited with her only family -- an aunt.

"I do have nephews, and nieces," Perez said, "one who is seven, the other who just turned two. So I can't relate, that, oh my Lord, this young individual, this juvenile, is on the other side [on the bridge] what could possibly be going wrong in your life to make you want to do something like this?"

Eventually, the girl agreed to allow Perez to come closer, and he asked if he could help her back over the bridge railing.

"She was just crying and holding on," Perez said.

The girl told Perez she was scared and needed help, so the officer leaned over the railing, grabbed her in a bear hug and helped her over the railing to safety, police said.

The girl was taken into custody for medical evaluation, according to police.

Perez is reluctant to call himself a hero and uncomfortable that others are calling him one -- but he is glad his own family took notice.

"Hearing it from my parents is one thing," Perez says, humbly, "Because I know I did right by them."

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