Claim:
in 2018 April 24 Michigan State Police enlisted the help of semi-truck drivers who lined up under a Detroit-area freeway overpass to help prevent a woman from jumping to her death from the bridge above.
Rating:
Rating: Mostly true
What is true:
in 2018 April 24 911 callers alerted police about a man who may have jumped off an overpass over Interstate 696 in suburban Detroit. Michigan State Police then closed both directions of I-696 and ordered truckers to park under the overpass, reducing the distance the man could fall before he decided to pull over the edge. However…
What is not true:
… in 2025 in October some social media users copied and pasted a story that dramatized fairy-tale-like text created by an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that falsely claimed the person on the bridge was a woman. Michigan State Police 1st Lt. Mike Shaw, the person named in the story, told Snopes via email that the person involved was a man. He also said the records’ version of the story was “a bit exaggerated” and indicated that the quote attributed to him was fabricated.
in 2025 In October, a rumor spread on the Internet said that in 2018 April 24 Michigan State Police enlisted the help of semi-truck drivers who lined up under a Detroit-area freeway overpass to help keep a woman from jumping to her death from the bridge above.
For example, on October 14, a Facebook user posted (archived) a photo showing several trucks lined up under an overpass at night.
(What did I just see? / Facebook)
The post, which had a total of nearly 100,000 engagements, featured a 16-paragraph story that began:
Thirteen truck drivers received a call at 1 a.m. “Park your trucks under the bridge and don’t move.” They didn’t ask why. They just came.
It was after midnight in 2018. on April 24, when Michigan State Police got a call that stopped Lt. Mike Shaw’s heart: A woman was standing on the bridge over the 696th in Detroit, contemplating the unthinkable.
The highway below was dark. The fall was fatal. And Shaw had a few minutes to decide.
He took the radio and did something that had never been done before.
He called for the trucks.
Within minutes, the headlights penetrated the darkness. One by one, the thirteen trucks rolled into position in each lane of the highway, standing side by side, forming a wall of steel and hope under the bridge.
Three days later, another Facebook user posted (archived) the same story with a photo of a red circle around a figure dressed in white, likely a person about to jump off a bridge.
(Motivating Funny/Facebook)
Many other users shared the same story on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and TikTok (archived). One TikTok post (archived) of the photo, which has received more than 11 million views, contained comments including information from two alleged truck drivers. These stories will be presented later in this article.
Snopes readers also searched our website to see if the story was true.
In short, 1st Lt. Mike Shaw, Michigan State Police public information officer, confirmed by email that the story was largely accurate. Specifically, Shaw confirmed that troopers did enlist the help of truck drivers to help prevent a possible suicide attempt in 2018. April 24
Referring to the copy-and-paste story, which dramatized fairy-tale-like text created using an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Shaw said there was a man on the bridge, not a woman. He also said the tapes’ version of the incident was “a bit exaggerated” and included a fictional quote attributed to him, namely: “They didn’t do it for recognition. They didn’t do it for gratitude. They did it because it was the right thing to do.”
In other words, the accounts of the records were mostly true, but there were still inaccuracies. As a result, we rated the statement as true.
Media in 2018 in April published articles said the man walked off the bridge peacefully about three hours later.
A post (archived) on the morning of the incident from the official Michigan State Police X account was proof that the photo of the trucks lined up under the bridge was real. The photo featured a mosaic effect designed to censor the man on the bridge, shown just above the green sign on the right side of the frame.
Another X user’s post (archived) that appeared hours before the Michigan State Police account’s post showed the same photo without the mosaic effect covering the man. We have contacted that user and will update this article if we receive more information.
The man on the bridge
Hours after the incident, when the man did not jump off the bridge, CNN reported Shaw’s live coverage. In correspondence with Snopes, Shaw confirmed the accuracy of the article and the authenticity of the citations to his name.
in 2018 around 1 a.m. on April 24, 911 callers alerted police about a man possibly jumping off an overpass over Interstate 696 in the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods. A CNN article citing Shaw said troopers closed both directions of I-696 and asked truck drivers for help in case the man jumped out or accidentally fell.
Shaw told CNN that it’s not unusual for truckers to be asked to help out in similar cases, but “usually these incidents are (resolved) pretty quickly, so we only get one half.”
The article reads in part:
Troopers looked for big rigs coming off the highway and asked them to drive ahead and park under the overpass. The 13 trucks are tightly packed to minimize gaps between them.
If the man had fallen, Shaw said, he would have been only five or six feet on the roof of the truck, not 14 feet to the concrete below.
According to him, the police questioned the man.
“Usually when we talk to people who are involved in these types of incidents,” Shaw said, “there’s usually a cause. We’re trying to figure out what it is and fix it.”
“We were able to do that with him today,” he said. “We managed to convince him that it wasn’t the right thing to do and we managed to get him to a local hospital where he is getting the help he needs.”
Shaw went on to say, “Somewhere in that picture is someone who was considering ending their life,” adding, “We want this to be a story — not something the Michigan State Police did or the truck drivers, but that the person changed their mind.”
Fox 2 Detroit reported more photos from the early morning incident, as well as additional information about the man and the officers involved.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health, suicide or drug use crisis or emotional distress, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Helpline 988 or use chat services 988lifeline.org contact a trained crisis counselor.
Sources:
“13 Semis Line Detroit Freeway to Help Suicidal Man”. FOX 2 in Detroitin 2018 April 24, https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/13-semis-line-detroit-freeway-to-help-man-considering-suicide.
Dickson, James David, and Sarah Rahal. “Police Half-Stop Suicide Attempt on I-696”. Detroit Newsin 2018 April 24, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2018/04/24/police-semis-halt-suicide-attempt-696/545522002/.
Grey, Melissa. “A man threatened to jump off an overpass. Large platforms set up below to break his fall.” CNNin 2018 April 24, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/24/us/detroit-truckers-help-suicidal-man-trnd.
@mspmetrodet. “This photo shows labor soldiers and local officials…” Xin 2018 April 24, https://x.com/mspmetrodet/status/988789208562225153.
Patterson, Brandon, and Brian Manzullo. “Man Tried to Jump Off Detroit Viaduct. Then 13 Truck Drivers Rescued Him.” Detroit Free Pressin 2018 April 24, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2018/04/24/detroit-trucks-save-man/545219002/.
“Police and trucks thwart suicide attempt on interstate.” CBS Detroitin 2018 April 25, https://www.wymt.com/content/news/Police-and-semi-trucks-prevent-suicide-attempt-on-interstate-480833891.html.
“Trucks Help Police Stop Suicide on Michigan Highway”. Associated Pressin 2018 April 24, https://apnews.com/general-news-8db18aa418f74463b52cc06282ccc6c1.