A police officer in Colombia is being hailed as a hero (http://gawker.com/cop-yanks-suicidal-man-off-metro-tracks-at-last-possibl-478132977) after preventing a possible suicide.
A security camera captured the moment when the officer pulled a man from the path of an oncoming metro train in the city of Medellin, Colombia.
On Tuesday, Medellin police chief Jose Mendoza told the Associated Press that the officer is 19-year-old Luis Alfonso Ramirez Ramirez, according to a translation by The Huffington Post. Mendoza also confirmed that the incident took place the afternoon of April 15 (http://www.metro.pr/ap-noticias/colombia-policia-auxiliar-salva-la-vida-a-hombre/BtImdw!joRYV2bGNQtNvg8jCe3m2Q/) at the El Hospital metro station.
The chief called Ramirez the police's "hero of the month," AP reported.
Despite not being officially recognized until Tuesday, the heretofore unknown officer received a lot of well wishes after the security video went viral.
"These are the policemen we need in Colombia," YouTube user Erika Mady wrote (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yGCCmxnVwHA#!) in the comments of one version of the video.
According to a HuffPost translation of Noticias Caracol, a Colombian news website, authorities said the man thanked the officer for preventing his suicide (http://www.noticiascaracol.com/nacion/video-292367-heroico-policia-salva-a-hombre-intento-suicidarse-metro-de-medellin), and that personal problems had led him to attempt to take his own life.
Gawker reported Tuesday that a man named Gustavo Chaparro (http://gawker.com/cop-yanks-suicidal-man-off-metro-tracks-at-last-possibl-478132977) had come forward and identified himself as the officer in question.
Via: HuffingtonPost