Watch Tenn. Trooper's Dramatic Grab to Rescue Woman Threatening to Jump Off Bridge over River

A Tennessee trooper made a dramatic rescue Friday when he grabbed a woman threatening to jump off a bridge.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol, along with Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, the Kingsport Police Department and other first responders, were part of a coordinated effort to save a woman considering jumping off a bridge overlooking the Holston River, authorities said. Trooper Jake Tizzard, who was part of the rescue operation, told WJHL-TV on Sunday that officers "were met with conflict" when they reached the scene.

"Obviously, she didn’t really want to talk," he said. "She didn’t want to tell us her name."

Tizzard said he used his de-escalation training to try to stop the woman from jumping. As he and other officers worked to resolve the situation, drivers stopped to pray or shouted words of encouragement and love to the woman.

Tizzard credits another trooper—Capt. Kevin Kimbrough—with providing "the heart and soul of the operation." He said that Kimbrough was able to talk with the woman and keep her talking.

As the woman spoke with Kimbrough, Tizzard said he believed rescuers didn't have long before she would leap off the bridge. That's when he made the decision to grab and pull her away from the ledge.

"I told myself, I said, 'Jake, just grab her and go backwards, because if you go forward like it’s both of us, right?'" said Tizzard, who was a Division I college defensive end. "And obviously, we don’t want to get hurt. Everybody’s safety is important, and we want to preserve life. But the biggest thing was, grab her, don’t let go, and go backwards."

Tizzard's body camera footage from the incident captured Tizzard successfully pulling the woman to safety. She was then treated by medics and taken to the hospital.

"Because people showed up and worked together, she is alive tonight," the Tennessee Highway Patrol stated in a social media post that included the video footage.

Following the rescue, Tizzard told WJHL that he questioned his actions, even though the result was successful. He said he worried about what would have happened if the woman had escaped his grasp.

“I went home and started talking to (my wife) about it," said Tizzard. "I was, like, ‘What if this would have happened? And what if I lost grip?'"

"And she’s, like, ‘Jake, you guys did great. You saved a life. This isn’t the time to what-if it. This is a time to be thankful that everybody was okay, and she’s going to get the help she needs,'" he added.