Heroic DC Bus Driver Prevents Suicide

Sometimes news about a heroic act is slow to get out because of the humility or reluctance of the hero to come forward. That’s the case with ATU 689 member Mamie Doyle (left), who risked her own life to stop a suicide earlier this year. It happened on a cold day in February on the Beltway in Virginia. Doyle was driving her bus back to the garage after her first run of the day, when she noticed a woman walking dangerously on the highway toward an overpass railing. She immediately called “911”. When she saw the woman start to lean over the side of the bridge, Doyle stopped her bus and risked her own life running across eight lanes of traffic, caught the woman just as she was about to leap and held on even as the woman screamed and cried and fought to escape. It was later discovered that the woman had taken PCP, which made her extremely dangerous. Doyle received a letter of commendation and a “gold valor” award from the police, as well as her union’s “great admiration for her heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty.”
- ATU Dispatch

---