On 11/3/2005, after years of battling depression, Kevin Berthia drove to the Golden Gate Bridge on what he describes as the worst morning of his life. Having never been there before, he had to stop repeatedly for directions.

Berthia, then 22 and living in Oakland, California, had recently lost his job and was facing mounting hospital bills for his prematurely born daughter. After parking at the north end of the bridge, he left his keys in the ignition and walked the 1.7 miles along the span, looking down at the San Francisco Bay, telling himself, "The water is my freedom. I'm ready."

He climbed over the railing and stood precariously on a narrow metal pipe running along the bridge's exterior, the bay's frigid waters churning more than 200 feet below.

"I started counting down and bracing for impact," Berthia recalls.

Then, something unexpected happened. Two decades later, Berthia still calls it a "miracle."

California Highway Patrol Sergeant Kevin Briggs, on patrol on the bridge, happened to pass by and spotted Berthia on the other side of the railing, contemplating while gripping the railing tightly.

Throughout his career, Briggs prevented over 200 people from attempting suicide like Berthia. He earned the nickname "Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge."

Upon seeing Berthia, Briggs acted calmly.

"Hi. Can I come over there and talk to you for a second? I'm not going to touch you. I'm just here to talk and listen," Briggs remembers saying to Berthia, who was staring down at the water.

Kevin Briggs talks to Kevin Berthia (in white) on the Golden Gate Bridge in 3/2005. Photo: San Francisco Chronicle/Polaris

Kevin Briggs talks to Kevin Berthia (in white) on the Golden Gate Bridge in 3/2005. Photo: San Francisco Chronicle/Polaris

Over the next 92 minutes, Briggs coaxed Berthia into revealing why he wanted to end his life. "I never tell anyone what to do. I just listen with empathy and understanding, let them speak their mind, then encourage them to think about coming back over," Briggs explained.

Briggs' method worked. Berthia confessed that for the first time in his life, he shared his "deepest, darkest secrets" with Briggs. He climbed back over the railing and was taken to a local hospital, where he stayed for 11 days.

However, after returning home, Berthia's mental health struggles quickly resurfaced. Seeing a photo of himself on the bridge's edge plastered on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle exacerbated his situation.

"For the next eight years, I went into one of the deepest, darkest depressions I've ever been in," Berthia said.

A fateful reunion occurred in 2013 when the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention contacted Briggs as he neared retirement after 23 years of service. The organization wanted to honor the veteran patrol officer for his contributions and hoped someone Briggs had saved would present the award at a ceremony in New York.

Briggs had declined the honor three times before, but his commander informed him he needed to accept. The only problem was that he had never contacted any of the people he had saved. He had only received a thank-you letter from Berthia's mother, Narvella.

"I never reached back out to anyone because I didn't want to be a trigger for them. They want to forget that day. They want to put it behind them," Briggs explained, acknowledging why none of the individuals had contacted him.

One afternoon, Briggs drove to the return address on Berthia's mother's letter, introduced himself, and told her about the upcoming ceremony. Narvella quickly devised a plan to get her son, who had attempted suicide dozens more times since the bridge incident, to New York for the event. She told him he had won a radio-sponsored trip to the city.

Upon arriving and meeting the man who had saved his life, Berthia was stunned to realize it was the police officer. Berthia explained he was so consumed by dark thoughts that day that he never looked up to see who he was talking to on the other side of the railing. "As a Black man from Oakland, I'd never had a positive experience with law enforcement. If I knew who he was, I would have never opened up like that," Berthia shared.

Within minutes of their reunion, Berthia realized none of that mattered. "We became friends from that point on," shared the 62-year-old Briggs, a cancer survivor and someone who overcame childhood sexual abuse. Berthia asserted their bond is even deeper.

"We're more like brothers. What happened that day had nothing to do with him being white and me being Black. It was all about the power of human connection," Berthia stated.

Their reunion transformed Berthia's life. He gave an impromptu speech while presenting Briggs with the award, surprising the hundreds in attendance. "I talked about all the things that led me to the bridge that day. For the first time in my life, I was being my authentic self, the person I always wanted to be. I was open, honest, and vulnerable. And after I finished speaking, the whole room stood up," Berthia recounted.

The crowd's reaction made Berthia realize, for the first time, that he wasn't alone in his struggles with suicidal thoughts, and suddenly, he wanted to do everything he could to make a difference.

In the following years, Berthia not only found ways to better manage his depression but also established a foundation in his name focused on destigmatizing mental illness and therapy. "I never thought my life in that dark place could be helpful to others," shared Berthia, now 42. He has spoken to thousands, from police academy graduates to elementary school students.

Meanwhile, Briggs also became a powerful advocate for suicide prevention. The two have teamed up numerous times to share their emotional story, hoping to empower others to do what Briggs did that fateful day 20 years ago on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Kevin Berthia (left) and Kevin Briggs at a recent speaking engagement. Photo: People

Kevin Berthia (left) and Kevin Briggs at a recent speaking engagement. Photo: People

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were over 49,000 suicides in 2023.

Briggs emphasized, "What's really important is to listen and not say meaningless things to those in crisis, telling them they'll be okay. It’s important to learn how to have conversations with people who are suffering."

Both Briggs and Berthia aim to help those in crisis understand they are not alone. "It’s not an easy topic to talk about, but like I always tell people, 'Briggs makes you think, and I make you feel'," Berthia stated.

Tue Anh (People)