Expert: MLB umpire John Tumpane did all the right things in helping suicidal woman

He voice was gentle, his words were calming, his demeanor was loving.

He was a stranger, but no matter. A woman was suicidal, perched on the other side of the railing on the Roberto Clemente Bridge on which he was strolling, and he had to try to save her. He held her in his arms and, perhaps more importantly, he held her in his heart.

He told her he cared. He said all would be well. He said he would never forget her.

The quick action, grace and humanity that Major League Baseball umpire John Tumpane provided the 23-year-old Munhall, Pennsylvania, woman was exactly what she needed before she was rescued, a national expert on suicide prevention marveled.

“I thought it was a fantastic instinct on his part,” said Christine Moutier, a psychiatrist who is the chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “It’s exactly what our education program teaches to help people realize what they can do.”

Moutier said Tumpane, who was in town to work the Pittsburgh Pirates-Tampa Bay Rays game at PNC Park, provided the distressed woman with the connection she obviously needed as she stood – and sometimes dangled her feet over the bridge’s edge – on the other side of the railing, high above the Allegheny River.

“No one wants to help me,” she said as Tumpane held her close so she wouldn’t jump or fall. “Just let me go.”

“No, we’re here to help you.”

“You’ll forget me tomorrow,” she said

“I’ll never forget you,” he assured her.

Moutier said that powerful interaction “chokes me up.”

“One of the most protective factors is a sense of connection with people in life or, in this case, a random stranger showing loving concern in that way. Something so profound and deep can break through what a suicidal person is feeling, that they are more of a burden than of value.

“What was striking to me was the dialogue in which the distortions were at play and he just came right in and said, ‘You matter. I will never forget you.’ ”

What also was extraordinary, Moulier said, was that Tumpane didn’t suffer from bystander syndrome – he didn’t wait for someone else to act. Instead, as the foundation teaches, he assumed it was his responsibility to do so.

“He was action-oriented, assumed he was the only one who could help, definitely acted like a hero and was humble. I am nothing but impressed,” she said.

Having a human connection in addition to accessing effective mental health help are keys to recovering from suicidal thoughts. Studies show that 90 percent of suicides are associated with mental illness or a substance abuse disorder.

The woman is receiving that kind of care – she was transported by city medics to UPMC Mercy on what is known as a 302 warrant, an involuntary psychiatric commitment for emergency evaluation and treatment for persons who are a danger to themselves or others.

Moutier said she wasn’t worried the international attention the story is receiving will inspire any copycat actions. In fact, she thinks the opposite is true.

“This was in the middle of an attempt and it had a positive outcome that doesn’t glorify the idea of suicide for someone who may be vulnerable. This shows you can live through this, that people care and shows the way people can address whatever challenges they’re going through,” she said.

Those who commit suicide – the nation’s 10th-leading cause of death – have a fatal merging of a diagnosable mental illness such as depression, characteristics such as lifelong relationship difficulties, impulsiveness or feeling hopeless, and the onset of life stressors. By themselves, those factors are usually manageable. Combined, with no mental health intervention, they can persuade an individual that life is not worth living.

Nationally, 44,193 people took their own lives in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for every suicide, another 25 people attempt to take their own life.

In the 15-24 age group – the cohort for the woman rescued Wednesday – suicide was the second-leading cause of death in 2015.

Men are nearly four times more likely to die by suicide than women, but women attempt suicide three times as often as men. Men are more likely to choose deadlier methods, such as firearms, while women are more likely to poison themselves.

In Pennsylvania, suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death with a rate nearly identical to the national rate of 13.26 suicides per 100,000 people. On average, a person dies of suicide in Pennsylvania every five hours.

But that wasn’t the case in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. The sun shone a little brighter when a stranger offered his heart to a fellow human in need.

“His loving message to her was that you matter. It resonates for all of us and is very profound,” Moutier said.