Hampton man stops Navy sailor from suicide attempt

Jesse Hepburn and his wife take their pup Ollie for walks in a Hampton park near Darling Stadium every day.

“We try to come out here to get some off-leash exercise just because he’s got a super high energy requirement,” Hepburn said.

But during a walk in April, Ollie started acting unusual around a tree towards the back of the park.

“We looked up and there was a person in the tree, with a rope around his neck,” Hepburn said.

Hepburn says it hit him that this man was moments away from attempting to commit suicide. A photo from that day shows the rope the man used wrapped several times around a thick branch.

“He was so quiet, like he didn’t want to be noticed … I was just like, ‘is everything OK man? Are you doing all right?’ Once I started conversating with him he came down. All I had to do was say something,” explained Hepburn.