Rhode Island Bus Driver Spots Man About to Jump off Bridge so She Gets Out, Saves His Life
The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) commended a bus driver for preventing a man from jumping off a bridge to commit suicide. The driver is being recognized for “exemplary compassion and selflessness” for intervening and saving the man’s life.
“To say she went above and beyond is an understatement,” RIPTA’s chief executive officer, Scott Avedisian, said in a press statement.
Operator Eldorada “Ellie” Giblin was driving the Route 33 bus on the Providence-East Providence line last month when she spotted a man who appeared to be contemplating leaping from the Henderson Bridge.
RIPTA Hero
RIPTA Operator Eldora “Ellie” Giblin this week received a formal commendation by the board for stopping her bus and coming to the aid of man who seemed ready to jump off the Henderson Bridge.
Giblin, a RIPTA driver for nine years, was driving Route 33 toward East Providence on April 3, when she stopped en route to talk to a man who had one leg over the railing of the bridge.
Giblin said she was nervous but knew she had to take action because even though other cars had pulled over, no one was talking to the man. “People just had their phones out and were taking pictures or video It broke my heart,” she said.
PROVIDENCE From behind the wheel of Bus 33 to East Providence that Saturday morning, Eldora “Ellie” Giblin saw cars stopped on the Henderson Bridge near a man who had one leg over the guardrail.
No one was talking to him, she told Barbara Polichetti, public affairs director for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authoriity. “People just had their phones out and were taking pictures or video It broke my heart,” she said.
She was nervous, she said, but she knew she had to do something. She stopped the bus. “I told my passengers not to worry and that I would be right back.”
“I told my passengers not to worry and that I would be right back.”
April 21, 2021 10:19 pm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE)- The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) Board of Directors commended a driver Wednesday for helping a man who was going to jump off of a bridge.
The situation happened on April 3, 2021, when Eldora “Ellie” Giblin stopped mid-route to talk to a man who seemed ready to jump off of the Henderson Bridge on the Providence-East Providence line.
Ellie Giblin saw the man with one leg over the railing of the bridge.
Giblin, a RIPTA Operator for nine years, said she was driving the Route 33 bus into East Providence just after 11 a.m. when she saw the man.