SEATTLE — A truck driver and two movers jumped into action and may have saved a woman’s life on a bridge in Chelan County.
Esteban Torralba and Reney Peñalosa are two movers with Full House Movers in Auburn who were on their way to an early morning gig near Republic, Washington on Oct. 11.
“We never go that way. It was the first time I’ve been all the way over there,” Torralba said. “We hit the bridge, right? And we see everybody stopped.”
That traffic stopped because drivers noticed a woman who appeared to be in crisis. She was dangerously close to falling off the BeeBe Bridge and into the Columbia River.
“I didn’t know how long they were going to take. So I was looking around like, ‘What do I do.' My friend said, ‘Hey, the straps,’" Peñalosa said. “She wanted to jump. But if we could do something, between all of us we did something.”
The two movers grabbed straps used to secure furniture and the three of them devised a harness they used to pull the woman to safety. The woman was transported to a hospital to receive resources from mental health and medical professionals, according to a spokesperson for the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.
“You never know what kind of situation you’re living in, you know. Maybe this person has depression, depression is really real. And it’s really bad. You feel it,” Torralba said.
It was a moment that Torralba captured on his cellphone and shared on social media. It’s been viewed more than 100,000 times.
According to these men, more often than not, someone will stop to help a stranger in need.
“It was just the right moment," Torralba said. "God said we have to be there. To help save someone, and that’s what we did."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit Vibrant Emotional Health’s Safe Space for digital resources.