He climbs over the barriers to jump off the bridge and the carabinieri tackle him and save him

FELTRE

Determined to end it all, he stopped at the bar in Anzù to leave an envelope with his last wishes and went to the Fante bridge between Quero and Vas to jump into the Piave. From the outer parapet, holding on with one hand, he called 112 to make sure his body was found. But while the operator of the central Carabinieri of Castelfranco kept him on the line, making him talk and let off steam, the Feltre Radiomobile patrol arrived on the bridge.

And since the man had his back to them and had not seen them, the carabinieri intervened with a real tackle, grabbing him over the railing and the safety net almost two meters high and pulling him safely onto the deck.

A daring maneuver that ended with a fall on the road that cost everyone a few bruises and the suspected fracture of a meniscus to the patrol brigadier, but which saved the man’s life.

The dramatic episode with a happy ending took place on Monday around 13.40, when the call from the man, a Feltrino around the age of seventy, arrived at the operations center of the Carabinieri in Castelfranco. He was about to end it and wanted to make sure that at least his body was found, he told the plant operator, who sensed the seriousness of his intentions.

The man, in fact, had already climbed over both the railing and the safety net and was talking on the phone, holding on with one hand. The operator of the Carabinieri of Castelfranco, to whom the cellular network had forwarded the call to 112 made from the Vas bridge with the mobile phone, did not lose his cool. Realizing the seriousness of the man’s intentions, he started talking to him to keep him on the line, while at the same time sounding the alarm at the Feltre operations center.

The Radiomobile patrol, by a twist of fate, was in service in the Lower Feltrino area.

It took the military seven minutes on the clock to get to the Vas bridge at full speed, with the sirens off so as not to alarm the man. And luck assisted them: the man, clinging to the outside of the safety net of the bridge and still on the phone with the operator of the Castelfranco operations center, was with his back to them and had neither seen nor heard the car approach. of the weapon.

The brigadier in charge of the patrol and his colleague, at that point, decided to intervene decisively. Approaching the man with caution, busy talking to the Castelfranco power plant, they jumped onto the net grabbing him and blocking him. Then, by weight, they pulled him over the barrier.

An abrupt maneuver that ended with a tumble of all three inside the protection, on the way to the bridge. One of the soldiers cushioned the fall of the man rescued with his body, while the other fell heavily on the asphalt. But now it was done: the man was safe. The man, with some bruises but substantially unharmed, was accompanied to the emergency room of Santa Maria del Prato. The consequences for the patrol leader are heavier: the brigadier reported a suspected fracture of the meniscus. The extent of the injury is still being ascertained by the doctors, while the soldier is off duty due to injury.

Previously, a few minutes before calling 112, the man at the center of the story had phoned the La Chiusa bar in Anzù where he stopped to leave an envelope on his way down to Quero. On the phone he had explained where he was and what he was about to do, inviting the bartender to take the envelope to the police.

The owner of the bar ran towards the command of Viale Montegrappa. Having opened the envelope, which reported confusing references to the judicial offices of Belluno, the carabinieri found a sort of will left, with an important sum in cash and instructions to pay bills and pay off loans, messages for family and friends and an additional envelope with a message to his wife. A worrying sign of the man’s determination to make that tragic gesture that the two carabinieri on patrol had just foiled in the same minutes.

For those who are going through a difficult period and come to think about suicide, there is help and support. De Leo Fund answers the toll-free number 800.168.678. The Telefono Amico answers at 02 23272327, the operators of the InOltre Project at 800 334343, while the Telefono Azzurro 19696 number is dedicated to young people. –