Man caught before jumping onto I-94

Police and firefighters called upon a half-dozen semi drivers Monday morning to help save a man from jumping off a bridge onto Interstate 94 near downtown Minneapolis.

Just after 10 a.m., officials responded to a 911 call about a man hanging on to the outside of the fence along the Groveland Avenue bridge.

He threatened to jump and would not talk with officers or negotiators who came to his aid.

Minneapolis Police Sgt. William Palmer said State Patrol officers asked semi drivers to park under the bridge to break the man's fall.

"Probably those trucks, because they're not concrete they're obviously a relatively light material, they probably would have broken his fall even if he had landed on them or hit them and then fallen, it probably would have taken some of the energy out," Palmer said.

Palmer said safety personnel managed to grab the man as he attempted to jump and others at the scene formed a human chain to help pull the man to safety.

The incident lasted about 75 minutes and shut down parts of the freeway.