‘They really did a heroic thing’: 3 Portlanders honored for quick-thinking actions to save man’s life

At first, they thought the man dangling headfirst from the freeway overpass was performing some kind of stunt.

Ned Folkerth and a group of friends and family had been walking to their cars after a concert on September 22, 2023, when they saw him on Couch Street where it crosses over Interstate 405.

The man’s legs were wrapped around the metal bars of the high fence along the overpass’s north side. As they approached, Folkerth said, he realized they weren’t witnessing a feat of parkour.

The man, in the midst of a mental-health crisis, was in serious danger.

More than a year-and-a-half later, Folkerth told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he’s still amazed at the timing.

“We almost didn’t see him at all,” said Folkerth, 59, who works for Mercy Corp. “It was fortuitous that we were there and that things unfolded like they did.”

On May 21, Portland Fire & Rescue publicly heralded Folkerth, his 17-year-old son Henry and Henry’s friend, 17-year-old Jack McManus, for their actions that night.

“Had they not acted as they did and when they did, this man would have likely jumped onto the freeway with a potentially tragic outcome,” interim Fire Chief AJ Jackson wrote in a letter read during a ceremony presenting them with the bureau’s Certificate of Merit.

The group was walking west across the overpass around 11 p.m. that night when a member of the group spotted the man. As they got closer — and increasingly concerned — Ned Folkerth made the decision to approach the man.

“Hey buddy, can we help you out?” he asked him. “Can we get you on the other side of this fence?”

The man was wiry and looked like he was in his 20s, Ned Folkerth said. He was hanging facing away from the fence, so Folkerth couldn’t get a good look at his face — but his demeanor and what he was saying made it clear that he wasn’t in his “right, coherent mind,” Folkerth said.

“I was just trying to talk to him and be very calm,” Ned Folkerth recalled. Henry Folkerth and McManus hovered close by.

“I don’t want to be tortured anymore,” Folketh heard the man say. The man unwrapped one of his feet from the railing. He was now hanging only by one foot hooked into the fence.

Fearing the man was about to fall, Folkerth discretely positioned a hand near one of the man’s, hoping he could grab him. He saw a steady stream of traffic rushing along the highway below.

Moments later, the man on the fence unwrapped his remaining foot.

It all happened so quickly that Ned Folkerth didn’t even have time to think — his hands shot out through a narrow gap in the fence as the man began to drop.

“No!” Ned Folkerth yelled. “Don’t go.”

Somehow, he had latched onto the man’s wrist. Ned Folkerth’s son, Henry, and McManus also reacted with remarkable speed, reaching through the fence to grab the man. The three of them held on, leveraging themselves against the fencing to hold onto the man.

The man flailed against his rescuers and tried to pry their fingers loose.

A small crowd formed, but the narrow gaps in the fence and the way Ned and Henry Folkerth and McManus were positioned made it nearly impossible for other people to help hold the man.

Firefighters used a rope system and a harness to lower the man to safety.

Courtesy of Portland Fire & Rescue

Nearly 15 long minutes passed before a team of firefighters arrived with a ladder truck, followed by a rope-rescue team.

David Fredericks was one of the rope-rescue specialists who arrived at the overpass that night.

Emergency responders had closed down the freeway by the time he arrived, and another fire crew had already positioned a ladder truck under the overpass.

But the situation was still precarious, and a firefighter perched on the top of the truck’s ladder had resorted to cramming a stretcher into a gap under the overpass’s fence to create a makeshift support for the man hanging from the bridge.

“Normally, in a situation like this, when we have a rescue where someone’s in a really bad spot, we try to be a little more careful and slow the pace down,” said Fredericks, a 15-year Fire Bureau veteran. “(Instead) we saw the situation and had to immediately step in.”

Fredericks quickly assembled a rope system with the help of his team and scaled the fence.

“He became uncooperative and started fighting with me,” Frederick said of the man he was trying to rescue. “It quickly became apparent that we didn’t have much time to mess around.”

With Ned Folkerth, Henry Folkerth and McManus still holding onto the man after firefighters arrived, Fredericks managed to wrestle a harness around the struggling man before wrapping him in a bear hug, then the crew on the overpass lowered them safely to the ground.

Up on the overpass, Ned Folkerth, Henry Folkerth and McManus were beginning to process what they had just experienced.

“As soon as we were able to let go and he was secured, my son, he kind of broke down and (then) we all did,” he said. “It wasn’t like squelching it or burying it…. We all just kind of hugged each other.”

First responders whisked the man away in an ambulance, and they never saw him again.

“You definitely go through those feelings of, like, what’s the ultimate outcome for this person?” Ned Folkerth said. He’s hopeful that the man received help and is now doing better.

After the ambulance roared away, Ned Folkerth, Henry Folkerth and McManus headed home, nursing injuries, with Ned suffering nerve damage from the sustained pressure of holding the man’s wrists through the fence, while Henry Folkerth and McManus were bruised.

In the year-and-a-half since the rescue, the three have taken time to think about that night and what it means to them.

Ned Folkerth said he’s proud of the two teenagers’ actions, and that his son Henry has since become a lifeguard and is even considering becoming a firefighter.

Fredericks – the rope-rescue specialist, who never met the three good Samaritans – said they clearly earned the Fire Bureau honor.

“I think they really did a heroic thing,” he said. “They stepped in for somebody clearly in need.”

— Tatum Todd is a breaking news reporter who covers public safety, crime and community news. Reach them at ttodd@oregonian.com or 503-221-4313.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, help is available. Call or text 988 for 24-hour, confidential support, or visit 988lifeline.org.

Help available

• 
  Suicide and crisis lifeline: 988
  
• 
  Alcohol and drug hotline: 800-923-4357
  
• 
  Teen-to-teen crisis and help: 877-968-8491, or text teen2teen to 839863
  

• 
  Suicide and crisis lifeline: 988
  
• 
  Alcohol and drug hotline: 800-923-4357
  
• 
  Teen-to-teen crisis and help: 877-968-8491, or text teen2teen to 839863
  

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