A San Diego cop is being hailed a hero after saving twin girls, 2, and their father after their car fell from a cliff into water.
Jonathan Wiese, a San Diego Police K-9 Officer, was on duty when he heard a plea for help over police scanners at around 5 a.m. on Saturday morning.
“Male subject left his house with his twin two-year-old daughters, was possibly armed with a gun and threatening suicide by driving his truck off the Coronado Bridge,” Wiese told NBC San Diego, recalling what he heard that day.
As Wiese rushed to the scene, he witnessed the car speeding through Point Loma, plunging from the side of Sunset Cliffs and landing in the Pacific Ocean.
“Oh my god. What the heck? Please tell me the kids weren’t in there,” Wiese remembered thinking at the time. “Please tell me he dropped them off.”
Jumping to action, Wiese rappelled down the side of the cliff, with the help of a 100-foot leash and his back-up officers.
The father, Wiese recounted, was holding his two daughters and treading water when he reached them.
“He had both girls. He was holding them and trying to tread water, but they were all going under,” the officer said. “One was awake and crying, the other one was pretty lifeless.”
Wiese managed to get the three of them to the safety of a cluster of rocks, but he knew he had to get one of the girls immediate medical attention.
“She was somewhat crying, somewhat not. I tried to invert her, get the water out of her lungs, make sure she’s breathing,” he said. “I put her in the bag, they threw the leash back down and hoisted her back up.”
“I have a two-year-old daughter at home so I imagined, what if that was my wife and kid down there,” he told KGTV. “You’re not going to stand there on the cliff and watch it happen.”
Shortly after the accident, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) officer Tony Martinez said that the father and one daughter suffered minor injuries, while the other child is in critical condition but is expected to survive.
Robert Brians, 47, was booked on Saturday and remained in jail this week on suspicion of two counts each of kidnapping and child cruelty and one count of burglary, per The San Diego Union-Tribute.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the twins’ mother with their medical costs.
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If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts, Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868, and the Trans Lifeline 1-877-330-6366 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.
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