The World Needs To See What This Off-Duty Police Officer Did For A Man Contemplating Suicide

September 11, 2015

Never underestimate the power of a hug.

A traffic camera captured powerful footage of a Raleigh police officer's act of compassion Wednesday evening.

Officer Dan Hicks was off duty and headed home, but he stopped when he noticed a man in distress sitting on the edge of an interstate bridge.

As seen on the video, Hicks and the man speak for a few minutes, and then the man agrees to come to the other side of the bridge railing. That's when the officer hugged the man for quite some time before walking him back to the car.

Hicks said he tried not to focus on what could happen in the situation – the man could fall or jump, hurting himself or others driving beneath the bridge – saying he tried to relate to the man as a person, not as a police officer.