TWO Policia Nacional officers have been hailed heroes after they clung to the ankles of a man who had hurled himself backwards off a second-floor balcony.
The drama unfolded just after 7.15am on Thursday in a residential block in the coastal town of Torre del Mar, when officers were called to assist paramedics attending to a man in a highly agitated state, believed to be under the influence of drugs.
When the man, thought to be in his early thirties, refused medical help and stepped out onto the balcony, the officers stayed close, trying to calm him down.
Suddenly, he threw himself backwards over the railing, plunging toward the street.
Reacting instantly, the two policemen lunged forward and managed to seize him by the ankles, leaving his body dangling in mid-air as he kicked and struggled violently.
For nearly twenty minutes, the pair held on, their wrists straining, as residents below gathered whatever soft furnishings they could – mattresses, cushions, blankets – to cushion the inevitable fall.
By the time reinforcements arrived, the officers’ grip was failing.
But thanks to the improvised safety net below, when the man finally slipped from their hands, he landed on the padded surface and survived.
He was taken conscious to Velez-Malaga’s regional hospital, where doctors say his life is not in danger.
Both rescuing officers were treated for injuries — one with a fractured wrist, the other with a hairline fracture to his forearm — after what police later described as ‘a race against gravity’.
A police spokesperson praised the quick reactions of the patrol and the ‘extraordinary cooperation’ of Torre del Mar’s residents, whose actions, he said, ‘undoubtedly saved a life’.
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