Oxnard police Detective Terry Dobrosky just wanted to get a cup of coffee, but he ended up saving a life.
He was driving out of San Diego last month after an extended weekend with his family when he passed a coffee shop and turned into a park to go back. His wife and he noticed a woman crying and screaming and then a man on a roof who was hanging from a noose and apparently trying to commit suicide.
"My first thought was the safety of my family," said Dobrosky, who works in the family protection unit. "The last thing I wanted was for my son to see it."
Dobrosky's wife called 911 and stayed in the vehicle with their son. The couple have a plan in case something happens while Dobrosky is off- duty.
Dobrosky figured the man had jumped off the roof and was starting to hang when he got there. It was 9 or 10 a.m., Dobrosky figured.
"His feet were about 10 feet off the ground," Dobrosky said. "I climbed onto the roof and tried my best to get him out of the noose, but I ended up cutting the rope."
The man hit his head when he fell, and Dobrosky stayed with him until emergency personnel arrived.
Officers interviewed Dobrosky. He then called the Oxnard police watch commander to tell him what had happened.
"I finally got my coffee, about a half-hour later," Dobrosky said, laughing.
The screaming woman was the man's girlfriend. She told Dobrosky that the man suffered depression.
Detective Mo Parga of the San Diego Police Department said the man survived and was getting mental health treatment. She said she was glad Dobrosky was nearby when the incident occurred.
"He had the guts to climb up on the roof of that building and get the guy down before he died," she said.
"We wish he would have had a better experience (in San Diego), but we appreciate that he was able to save one of our own."
Oxnard police spokesman Miguel Lopez said Dobrosky was at the right place at the right time.
"Had Terry not noticed this as he was casually driving by ... and responded as he is trained to do -- whether on-duty or not -- this man would have died," he said. "Our officer saved this man's life."
Dobrosky, however, sees it differently.
"I didn't do what I did because I am a police officer. I did what I did because I'm a person and there was another person in need," he said.
"Me being a police officer just gave me the training and the experience to be able to do what needed to be done. I would hope other people would do the same thing if they saw someone in trouble."
Copyright 2013 - Ventura County Star, Calif.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
