Checking claim 13 truck drivers blocked highway under Detroit bridge to help prevent suicide attempt

Claim:

On April 24, 2018, Michigan State Police helped semi-truck drivers line up under a Detroit-area highway overpass to prevent a woman from jumping to her death from the bridge above.

Evaluation:

What’s True:

On April 24, 2018, a 911 caller alerted police to a man considering jumping from an overpass over Interstate 696 in suburban Detroit. Michigan State Police then closed both directions of I-696 and directed truckers to park under the overpass, reducing the potential distance the man could fall until he chose to back off the edge. But …

What’s Wrong:

… Posts from some social media users circulating in October 2025 included a copy-pasted story with dramatized text resembling fairy tales, created through an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, falsely claiming that the person on the bridge was a woman. Michigan State Police 1st Lt. Mike Shaw, who is mentioned in the story, told Snopes via email that the person involved was a male. He also said the version of the story in the posts was “a bit exaggerated” and pointed out that a quote attributed to him was fabricated.

A rumor circulating online in October 2025 claimed that on April 24, 2018, Michigan State Police asked semi-truck drivers to line up under a highway overpass in the Detroit area to prevent a woman from jumping to her death from the bridge above.

For example, on October 14, a Facebook user sent (archived) An image showing multiple trucks lined up under an overpass at night.

(What Did I Just See?/Facebook)

In the post, which received nearly 100,000 interactions in total, a 16-paragraph story began as follows:

At 01:00 at night, 13 truckers received a phone call: “Park your trucks under the bridge and do not move.” They didn’t ask why. They just arrived.

After midnight on April 24, 2018, Michigan State Police Lt. Mike Shaw received a heart-stopping call: A woman stood on the edge of a bridge over Interstate 696 in Detroit, contemplating the unthinkable.

The highway below was dark. The fall proved fatal. And Shaw had minutes to decide.

He grabbed his radio and did something that had never been done before.

He called the truckers.

Within minutes, headlights pierced the darkness. One by one, thirteen semi-trucks positioned themselves on each lane of the highway, parked side by side, creating a wall of steel and hope under the bridge.

Three days later another Facebook user sent (archived) is the same story with a photograph showing a white-dressed figure with a red circle around the person, presumably contemplating jumping off the bridge.

(Motivational Funny/Facebook)

A lot other users shared This Same story Open Facebook (archived), instagram (archived), Topics (archived) And tiktok (archived). A TikTok photo to mail (archivedComments containing information about the two alleged truck drivers were included, which received over 11 million views. These stories will appear later in this article.

Snopes readers also searched our website for information on whether this story was true.

In short, 1st Lt. Mike Shaw, public information officer with the Michigan State Police, confirmed via email that the story was generally true. Specifically, Shaw confirmed that soldiers did indeed enlist the aid of truck drivers to help prevent a person’s potential suicide attempt on April 24, 2018.

Regarding the copied and pasted story, which includes dramatized texts resembling fairy tales created with an artificial intelligence (AI) tool, Shaw said that the person on the bridge was a man, not a woman. He also said the posts’ version of the incident was “a bit exaggerated” and included a made-up quote attributed to him: “They didn’t do it for recognition. They didn’t do it to say thank you. They did it because it was the right thing to do.”

In other words, the posts were mostly accurate in telling the story but still contained inaccuracies. As a result, we evaluated the claim as mostly true.

News media organizations’ articles From April 2018 reported The man walked away from the bridge peacefully approximately three hours later.

A. to mail (archived) a photo from an official Michigan State Police X account dated the morning of the incident was proof that the photo of trucks lined up under the bridge was real. The image displayed a mosaic effect to censor the man on the bridge just above the green marker on the right side of the frame.

A different X user to mail (archivedThe photo, which appeared hours before the Michigan State Police post, showed the same picture without the mosaic effect covering the man. We have contacted this user and will update this article if we receive more information.

man on bridge

Man ends up jumping off bridge hours after incident, CNN reported Firsthand information from Shaw. In correspondence with Snopes, Shaw confirmed the accuracy of the article and the authenticity of the quotes bearing his name.

Around 1 a.m. on April 24, 2018, a 911 caller alerted police to a man potentially considering jumping from an overpass over Interstate 696 in the Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods. The CNN article, citing Shaw, said troopers blocked both directions of I-696 and asked truckers for help in case the man jumped or accidentally fell.

Shaw told CNN it’s not uncommon to ask truckers for help in similar situations, but “a lot of times these incidents (resolve) pretty quickly, so we only get one half.”

Here is part of the article:

Soldiers searched for large trucks coming off the highway and asked them to go ahead and park under the overpass. The 13 trucks were tightly packed to minimize gaps between them.

If the man had fallen, Shaw said, he would have fallen only five or five feet onto the roof of a truck, not 14 feet onto the concrete below.

Police eventually convinced the man, he said.

“Usually when we talk to people who are involved in these types of incidents, there’s usually a trigger. We try to find out what that trigger is and try to fix it,” Shaw said.

“We were able to do that with him today,” he said. “We were able to convince him that this was not the right thing to do and get him to a local hospital where he could get the help he needed.”

“There’s someone somewhere in this picture who is considering taking their own life,” Shaw said. “That’s what we want the story to be, not what the Michigan State Police did or what the truckers did, but how the person changed their mind.”

Fox 2Detroit reported more photos from the early morning incident, as well as additional details about the man and officers involved.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health, suicide or substance use crisis or emotional distress, reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7 by calling or texting 988 or using the chat services at: 988lifeline.org to be connected to a trained crisis counselor.

Sources:

“13 Detroit Freeway Halfways to Help Man Contemplating Suicide.” FOX 2Detroit24 April 2018, https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/13-semis-line-detroit-freeway-to-help-man-considering-suicide.

Dickson, James David and Sarah Rahal. “Police Stopped Suicide Attempt on Semis I-696.” Detroit News24 April 2018, https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2018/04/24/police-semis-halt-suicide-attempt-696/545522002/.

Grey, Melissa. “A Man Was Threatening to Jump Off the Overpass. He Had Large Equipment Parked Underneath to Break His Fall.” CNN24 April 2018, https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/24/us/detroit-truckers-help-sucid-man-trnd.

@mspmetrodet. “This Photo Shows Working Soldiers and Local Officers…” X24 April 2018, https://x.com/mspmetrodet/status/988789208562225153.

Patterson, Brandon and Brian Manzullo. “A Man Tried to Jump from the Detroit Overpass. Then 13 Truckers Saved Him.” Detroit Free Press24 April 2018, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2018/04/24/detroit-trucks-save-man/545219002/.

“Police and Pickup Trucks Prevent Suicide Attempt on Interstate.” CBS Detroit25 April 2018, https://www.wymt.com/content/news/Police-and-semi-trucks-prevent-suicide-attempt-on-interstate-480833891.html.

“Truckers Help Police Stop Suicide on Michigan Highway.” Associated Press24 April 2018, https://apnews.com/general-news-8db18aa418f74463b52cc06282ccc6c1.