State police said troopers on Monday saved the life of a potentially suicidal woman who had climbed over a fence and onto a 5-inch ledge of the Baldwin Bridge, 100 feet above the Connecticut River between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme.

Police, in a statement, said the distressed woman had climbed from the pedestrian sidewalk adjacent to Interstate 95 and over metal safety fencing. Sgt. Matthew Belz spoke to the woman while Sgt. Ashley Harkins climbed over the fence and placed her arms around the woman, “essentially securing the female to the bridge with her body,” state police said.

Both troopers talked the woman into placing her own hands on the fencing and then climbing onto the legs of Harkins so that responding troopers on the sidewalk could pull her to safety back over the fence. The woman was taken by ambulance for treatment.

Police released body camera footage of the incident HERE.

Help is available 24/7 for anyone with suicidal thoughts. Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or text HOME to 741741. Learn more about suicide prevention at www.preventsuicidect.org.