Police laud Jon Bon Jovi for talking woman down from ledge



Surveillance footage taken Tuesday evening on Nashville's John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge shows a woman in a blue shirt on the wrong side of the railing, looking down at what could have been a deadly plunge into the Cumberland River.

Whereas some pedestrians walked past the distressed woman without showing any signs of slowing, rock star Jon Bon Jovi made his way over to talk her off the ledge.

According to the Tennessean, Bon Jovi was filming a music video on the bridge for his song "The People House."

The musician can be seen walking up to the distressed woman in the company of a production assistant while the rest of his crew keep their distance. Bon Jovi engages the distressed woman while his female production assistant makes physical contact, placing a reassuring hand on her back.

'It takes all of us to help keep each other safe.'

Soon, Bon Jovi and the production assistant can be seen gripping the woman, then helping her over the railing and onto the right side of the pedestrian bridge. As the video crew begins closing the distance, Bon Jovi hugs the woman in blue.

The Metro Nashville Police Department noted on X, "A shout out to @jonbonjovi & his team for helping a woman on the Seigenthaler Ped Bridge Tue night. Bon Jovi helped persuade her to come off the ledge over the Cumberland River to safety.

MNPD Chief John Drake stated, "It takes all of us to help keep each other safe."

The Tennessean indicated that Bon Jovi has declined to speak in detail about the incident out of respect for the privacy of the woman. A source told the New York Post, however, that the musician did what anybody in that situation would have done: lend a helping hand.

The bridge where the incident took place was named after John Siegenthaler, a journalist who once saved a suicidal man's life on the same span.

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Video shows NYPD officer break into tears after talking man off ledge: 'Come back brother, come back'



A suicidal man had a good view of the sunset over the Hudson River from his perch on the side of a Manhattan overpass earlier this month. It would likely have been the last thing he'd ever see — apart from the pavement below — were it not for New York Police Department officers Carl Fayette and Eleodor Mata.

The NYPD released body camera footage this week showing the officers' dramatic intervention on Oct. 5 along with their subsequent efforts to process this victory over death, noting, "Police Officers frequently interact with people having the worst day of their lives."

In the video, a distraught man can be seen leaning over the edge of a raised portion of Riverside Drive in Manhattanville near West 130th Street, several stories above the ground below and partitioned from officers by a railing and a fence.

Fayette calmly told him, "I've been in your shoes man. I've been in your shoes man, right. It's not worth it, right. ... There is solutions. There is a way to actually get out of this situation."

"I believe that you're a good man. You're a good man," continued Fayette. "And I promise you, brother. I promise you: We will do anything in our power to help you. Please, listen to me. I've been in your shoes, brother."

"I care about you and I care about your life," added the officer. "Life is beautiful. The sun is beautiful. ... Don't give up on me, brother."

Mata repeatedly reinforced Fayette's words of support, saying, "There's plenty of resources out here for you. ... We're here for you. Everybody's here for you. We're gonna help you. You are stronger than this, like Carl told you many times. You are. You can defeat this with our help. Just come back brother, come back."

The officers carried on with their impassioned pleas for nearly 40 minutes until harnessed Emergency Service Unit officers were finally able to rescue the man.

After the ESU secured the prospective jumper, Fayette retreated into the road, audibly overwhelmed by the incident. He took a knee and sobbed, ostensibly shedding happy tears in the company of fellow officers.

The 26th Precinct said in a statement on Meta, "Both officers demonstrated great compassion and care while keeping the male engaged, allowing ESU Officers an opportunity grab the man & bring him to safety."

On X, the precinct noted the officers had spoken to the suicidal man with "genuine empathy."

Police Officers Fayette and Mata responded to a suicidal male who wanted to jump from an overpass. \n\nThey spoke to the man with genuine empathy to let him know they cared and that help was available, & with the assistance of our @NYPDSpecialops, they got him help.\n\nAmazing work!
— NYPD 26th Precinct (@NYPD 26th Precinct) 1697062013

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a free, confidential help line available across the United States. It is offered in hundreds of languages and can be utilized via phone, text or chat. Those in need just have to dial or text 988.

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Student was accused of being a rapist and bullied into suicide. His elite boarding school knew he was innocent but didn't bother to clear his name.



Jack Reid, 17, was falsely accused of being a rapist and driven to despair at an elite boarding school in New Jersey. With a Bible on his person and a note of direction to his parents in his pocket, he committed suicide last year.

The Lawrenceville School, the tuition for which is roughly $76,000 per year, admitted over the weekend that it failed the boy, falling "tragically short" of prioritizing his "physical, social, and emotional health, safety, and wellbeing."

Not only did it fail to curb the boy's abuse by other students, the school withheld evidence of Reid's innocence from both the public and from Reid's family.

What's the background?

Reid first evidenced his qualities as a compassionate leader at the Buckley School on Manhattan's upper east side, serving as chairman of the student council. Reid went on to attend Lawrenceville as a 10th-grader in 2020, making friends and the dean's list.

The school, located between Trenton and Princeton, has approximately 830 students and is touted as one of the nation's top 10 boarding schools.

The New York Times reported that things went well for Reid until the spring of 2021, when his apparent greatness inspired envy and cruelty in at least one student, who trafficked the rumor that Reid was a rapist.

This rumor reportedly spread widely, eliciting further nastiness and abuse from other students.

Notwithstanding the unrelenting and unwarranted personal attacks, Reid still managed to secure the student presidency of Dickinson House, one of the school's five boarding houses.

The ostensible support of the student electorate apparently inspired Reid's bully to double down on his attacks.

The bullying manifested in various ways. Around Christmas, when students engaged in a secret Santa gift exchange, Jack was gifted a rape whistle and a book about how to make friends, reported the Times.

Attacks directed at Reid also circulated online.

Reid asked his father whether this will "ever go away?" and whether the false accusation would "ever get off the website?"

Injustice upon injustice

The school released a statement on April 30, 2023, detailing the conclusions of five-month investigation undertaken by its board of trustees' special oversight committee, noting, "Jack was a victim of bullying and other forms of cruel behavior at Lawrenceville over the course of a year, including in the form of false rumors in person and online."
"When these behaviors were brought to the attention of the School, there were steps that the School should in hindsight have taken but did not," said the statement.
Reid reportedly sought help from school officials, asking for relief.
The school launched an inquiry into both the abuse and the rape claims. In the case of the latter, they found that Reid was wholly innocent. Despite determining that Reid was a man traduced, the Lawrenceville School did not bother publicizing the fact of his innocence, telling neither the school body nor the Reid family.
Following its initial investigation, the school did, however, expel one of the students who had been involved in spreading the rumors.
This apparent justice was hollowed by the fact that the bully was allowed to hang around campus unsupervised for several hours after receiving news of his ousting. During the bully's expulsion tour, Reid was targeted again with more scorn and blamed for the bully's exile.
Just as school administrators had failed to clear Reid's name, they failed to check on him after the bully's departure.
Reid's suicide took place on the same day as the bully's expulsion. He told a friend "he could not go through this again."
"The School acknowledges that bullying and unkind behavior, and actions taken or not taken by the School, likely contributed to Jack’s death," said the Lawrenceville School's statement.
Following Reid's death, the school circulated a document for students and staff, which stated, "Blaming others for the suicide is wrong, and it's not fair. Doing that can hurt another person deeply."

Too little, too late

The Lawrenceville School indicated that in the aftermath of its fatal failure to protect Reid, it will bring on a specialist to help construct anti-bullying policies; contribute to the Jack Reid Foundation, an educational and anti-bullying foundation set up in his memory; hire a dean of "campus wellbeing"; hold workshops and trainings to promote awareness of adolescent mental health; and pursue other anti-bullying initiatives.

These measures and the statement issued by the school over the weekend are part of a negotiated settlement with the boy's parents, Elizabeth and Bill Reid, reported the Times.

Elizabeth Reid said of her son's death, "We feel like we both have life sentences without the possibility of parole. ... The only thing I’d love to change here is to get Jack back. I can’t."

"I do know if he were alive, he would want me — both of us — to try to make something good out of this and honor him in the way he lived his life," she added.

Stephen Murray, the head of the school, said, "This happened on my watch and I’m grief stricken. And yet I can’t begin to compare that to the grief and sorrow of Bill and Elizabeth Reid."

Welcome to Lawrenceville! youtu.be

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Fashion designer says bullying from Chrissy Teigen left him 'traumatized' with 'thoughts of suicide' — shares messages between them



Fashion designer Michael Costello has come forward as the latest alleged victim of bullying by far-left model Chrissy Teigen, posting purported messages between the two as he confessed that her abuse from years ago continues to torment him and that he remains suicidal because of it.

What are the details?

In an Instagram post Monday afternoon, Costello began by writing:

"I didn't want to do this but I can not be happy until I speak my mind I need to heal and in order for me to do that I must reveal what I've been going through. I wanted to kill myself and I still am traumatized, depressed and have thoughts of suicide."

The designer revealed that Teigen — who has admitted to previously bullying other celebrities and reportedly urged at least one to kill herself — accused him of being racist over an image she saw online in 2014, according to "Entertainment Tonight."

Messages shared by Costello allegedly show Teigen refusing to speak with him when he was pleading to clear up the situation and his good name.

"Chrissy, I've never called anyone the n word," Costello wrote the model. "Those fake images were photoshopped from a former disgruntled employee."

"Good luck with that lmao," Teigen replied. "Hope that story keeps your already dead career going."

Costello then pleads with Teigen to call him so he can explain himself, supplying his phone number and writing, "I am suffering from this more than you can imagine. So many people are attacking me over this. It's a fake story but your comment is adding more fuel to the fire."

"Good!" Teigen responded. "Racist people like you deserve to suffer and die. You might as well be dead. Your career is over, just watch."

Costello wrote to his followers of Tiegen, "Wow, did she live up to her words."

He claimed that Teigen and stylist Monica Rose actively worked to "threaten people and brands that if they were in any shape or form associated with me, they would not work with any of them."

Costello explained that "so many nights" he stayed awake wanting to kill himself, and that just last week he wrote letters to family and close friends "because I thought taking my own life would be the best way out" from the torment at the hands of the "powerful Hollywood elites."

Teigen apologizes

Costello's post came hours after Teigen issued a lengthy apology following weeks of backlash and canceled deals of her own over multiple unearthed instances of her bullying and harassing young female celebrities.

Teigen, who is married to singer John Legend, wrote, in part:

There is simply no excuse for my past horrible tweets. My targets didn't deserve them. No one does. Many of them needed empathy, kindness, understanding and support, not my meanness masquerading as a kind of casual, edgy humor.
I was a troll, full stop. And I am so sorry.

She added, "I won't ask for your forgiveness, only your patience and tolerance. I ask that you allow me, as I promise to allow you, to own past mistakes and be given the opportunity to seek self improvement and change."

Alabama police officer convicted of murder in shooting death of suicidal man



An Alabama jury convicted Huntsville police Officer William Ben Darby of murder on Friday, for fatally shooting a suicidal man who was holding a gun to his own head three years ago.

What are the details?

On April 3, 2018, Huntsville resident Jeff Parker called 911 for help, telling dispatchers that he had a gun and was going to kill himself. When officers arrived at Parker's home, they found him seated on a couch with the gun to his own head.

The first officer to arrive was Genisha Pegues, a senior officer to Darby, who testified against Darby, telling "the jury that she was de-escalating the situation before he got there," AL.com reported. But Darby testified "that he shot parker in defense of himself and other officers because he feared Parker might shoot them."

According to The Hill:

Body camera footage from Darby shows him running into the house with a shotgun and shooting Parker within 11 seconds of entering.

"Point your f---ing gun at him," Darby yelled at Pegues before ordering Parker to drop his weapon, which was not aimed at the officers, the footage showed.

When Parker didn't drop the gun, Darby shot him in the face.

Prosecutor Tim Gann told jurors in his closing argument, "An innocent man was murdered. He called for help and got Ben Darby."

The jury's conviction of Darby came as a shock to the Huntsville Police Department. The officer had been cleared of any wrongdoing by a police review panel, and he was able to remain an officer following the incident, Fox News reported. The city council even voted to contribute $125,000 in taxpayer money to assist with the officer's defense.

HPD Chief Mark McMurray said in a statement after the guilty verdict:

"We are in the first stages of shock. While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer."

"Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved."

Darby's defense attorney, Robert Tuten, has already vowed to appeal. Tuten said in a statement that he believes the conviction "won't stand," adding, "Everyone's shocked by the jury's verdict."

Meanwhile, Darby is looking at a sentence of 10 years to life.