Lawyer Intervenes to Stop a Suicide Jumper at Pennsylvania Courthouse
A Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer was quick to intervene when he saw a woman who appeared ready to jump from the sixth floor of a York courthouse on Thursday.
Lawyer Kurt Blake and Deputy Dennis Williams both reacted quickly and pulled the woman from the ledge, the York Daily Record reports. “I walked out of Courtroom 4, and I saw her climbing over the railing,” Blake told the newspaper. “I dropped my briefcase and dove at her.” The York Dispatch reports that a third, unidentified man also assisted Blake and Williams.
The woman was the mother of a criminal defendant, according to the York County sheriff’s office. She has been involuntarily committed for a mental health evaluation.
Both Blake and his law partner have a history of saving lives, according to the Daily Record. Blake, 43, was a lifeguard at a swimming pool in Vernon, N.J, from 1984 to 1990. “It had a wave pool, and we’d go into the water 30 to 40 times a day to pull people out,” he said.
Blake’s law partner, Ronald Gross, received an award for heroism after coming to the aid of a court stenographer attacked by a gunman near their law office in 2003. Gross jumped out of his car to help, and the gunman held what turned out to be a pellet gun at Gross’ head. Police arrived on the scene and shot and killed the gunman when he pointed the weapon at the officers.
