Woman Recalls Saving Man From Highway Plunge
Posted December 28, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A North York woman is being credited with saving the life of a man who seemed intent on plunging to his death from an overpass onto Highway 401.
Bruna Ronaghi was driving on Keele St. Wednesday afternoon when she spotted the man while approaching the eastbound ramp.
She immediately noticed his apparent distress and got out of her car to talk to him.
“He was shaking, his feet were shaking and he was on the ledge and it looked like his legs would give out on him. I knew I had to convince him to come back over to the right side of the sidewalk,” she bravely recalls.
“I pleaded with him to give me his hand and he said, ‘Okay, okay.’ When he came over, we hugged each other. And he said thank you a couple times. And then I just kept reassuring him.”
The man is in hospital for assessment and Ronaghi says she hopes it will be a new beginning for him.
The incident was a chilling reminder of a tragedy on the 401 a few weeks ago. On December 3 rd, 30-year-old Andrea Johnson plunged onto the highway with her 2-year-old son. Both died.
In 2005, a father jumped onto the 401 from the Don Mills overpass with his five-year-old daughter. She survived. He didn’t.
