A suicidal man was coaxed down from a bridge in South Carolina by the quick thinking of a police officer who offered the despondent man some pizza - this pizza must be really, really, really good, because after eating it he came down and was taken into custody without further incident.

The Post and Courier indicated that the problems began around 6:50 a.m. when a man parked his vehicle along the southbound shoulder of the Ravenel Bridge and stepped across a barrier. He paced back and forth and threatened to jump into the Cooper River, Mount Pleasant police said.

Nearly a dozen motorists called 911 to alert authorities. The vehicle’s emergency lights were on, so some of the travelers first thought it was disabled. They worried that the vehicle would cause a wreck.

Several callers reported that a man wearing a green T-shirt had climbed over the concrete barrier and was dialing, then talking on his cellphone. “(He’s) holding onto the cable looking like (he’s) getting ready to jump,” one caller said. “There’s no other reason for him to be there.”



A dispatcher told another caller that help was on the way.

The despondent man had grown hungry and thirsty during his hours atop the bridge, and police brought him a pepperoni pizza from Andolini’s and some water.

After several tense moments during the next 15 minutes, the man was captured and later taken to Medical University Hospital for treatment, Mount Pleasant Police Maj. Stan Gragg said,

“It just so happened he was taken into custody shortly after being provided pizza,” Gragg said, and that it was speculation to say the pepperoni pie helped coax him down.

Customers at Andolini’s in Mount Pleasant came to a different conclusion. “Dude, your pizza is saving lives this morning,” one man said as he arrived for lunch at the Coleman Boulevard restaurant.

After learning what it was for, Castle gave the pie to an officer at no charge.