Pastor pulls suicidal man to safety from I-696 overpass

Maurice Hardwick saw man while getting back freeway

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – A pastor saved a suicidal man over the weekend when he spotted the man on a Metro Detroit freeway overpass.

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"I missed my exit, and God sent me up one more exit to turn around," Maurice Hardwick said.

He said he was circling around to get on I-696 near Southfield Road when he saw the man standing on the overpass.

Hardwick's wife called 911 and he pulled off the road. Another driver also stopped.

"He wouldn't even respond to us. He said not one word. He didn't even raise his head when we called him," Hardwick said. "I knew then he was locked in."

A driver was able to start a conversation with the man and distract him while Hardwick crept close enough to pull the man to safety.

"He was saying, 'I don't want to be here anymore. Let me go. I need help,'" Hardwick said.