Back in 2000, Kevin Hines jumped off the golden gate bridge due mental illnesses. He miraculous survived because a sea lion was bumping him up and kept his head above water. Now he is a suicide prevention speaker
ABC News reported that Hines began hearing voices in his head telling him to die.
On his walk up the pathway, he wept. Hines contemplated not jumping, reasoning that if any person showed that they cared about him, he would not commit suicide.
A female police officer and male bridge workers passed him without stopping.
A woman with a German accent did come up to him and asked him to take her picture at the bridge, but she did not mention anything about his tears or ask about his well-being.
After she left, he took several steps and threw himself over the rail.
After leaping, Hines, as described by Time, had instant regret: "When my hands left that rail—and my legs curled over—as soon as I left the bridge, I thought, ‘I don’t want to die’."
He had gone over the railing head first, but when he regretted his decision, turned himself around to land in the water legs first. The impact force was comparable to slamming into a concrete wall.
After he’d surfaced, he felt a creature nudging his body which he initially thought was a shark trying to eat him, and punched at it. The creature was later identified as a sea lion by a witness. The sea lion helped keep Hines afloat until he was rescued by the Coast Guard.
(his site)
