Back in April, 1979 I was a Detroit Police Officer working a 2 man car in the area of Belle
Isle, an island actually north of Canada. After finishing our lunch on the island, we
started to leave the island and saw a vehicle with the door open and the engine running.
The owner of the vehicle had stepped out and stepped over the railing and looking down
at the rushing water below.

I spoke calmly to him in an attempt to get him to climb back over the railing, but I was
unsuccessful. He jumped to his death. This has always been hard for me to talk about
and is something that has stuck with me for all these years. Inside his vehicle was a
wallet containing 2 uncashed paychecks from Pontiac Motors, and pictures of his wife
and a one-year old child. For all these years, I wondered what would make a man with
money, a wife and child want to commit suicide.

3 weeks ago, I received a phone call on my cell phone. I have a Google Pixel phone that
allows me to screen calls and read the live transcription of what the caller is saying.
This allows me to decide whether or not to answer the call.

It was obvious by the text that the caller was nervous and tense. In short, the caller
wanted to know if I was the same Detroit Police Officer that worked the area of the
bridge in 1979. At that point, I realized that I had to answer the phone.

The caller was that one-year old that I saw a picture of in the wallet of the jumper. She
was very emotional when she first spoke. She was crying, and I admit that I was as
well.

She said that she had been searching for me for years to thank me for what I did for her
father: to try and talk him off the ledge, albeit unsuccessfully.

It was very cathartic for both of us to speak about this tragedy. After we hung up, we
texted each other to say the words we wanted to say but were unable to because of the
emotions when speaking.

I bring this up here because I wanted to talk about suicide and the mental problems
leading to suicide. The caller had years to process this and came to one conclusion: she
is satisfied with him taking his life because it is probably better than the alternative
where he survived and would possibly go in and out of mental institutions.

Her mother did a great job raising her. The mother explained that her father had some
mental issues after serving in the Army being deployed to Viet Nam. There is of course
a lot more that we discussed, but too much to mention here.

That phone call was definitely the most powerful phone call that I ever received. My
wife and I Zoomed with her 3 days ago. She wanted me to record the meeting so she
could get a copy of the video. That too is the most powerful Zoom call that I was
involved in.

We will probably be meeting up with her sometime on the future since she lives just 1-
1/2 hours away from us. More to follow?

Mike Dippel
DPD 1977-1979, when I was put on indefinite layoff status along with 1,000 other
officers.

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Back in April, 1979 I was a Detroit Police Officer working a 2 man car in the area of Belle
Isle, an island actually north of Canada. After finishing our lunch on the island, we
started to leave the island and saw a vehicle with the door open and the engine running.
The owner of the vehicle had stepped out and stepped over the railing and looking down
at the rushing water below.
...

Thanks for sharing this story, and thanks for your service as a police officer. It's awesome that his daughter reached out to you after all these years.

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On 7/19/2025 12:20 PM, Nightfox wrote to Mike Dippel:

Back in April, 1979 I was a Detroit Police Officer working a 2 man car in the
area of Belle
Isle, an island actually north of Canada. After finishing our lunch on the
island, we
started to leave the island and saw a vehicle with the door open and the engine running.
The owner of the vehicle had stepped out and stepped over the railing and looking down
at the rushing water below.
...

Thanks for sharing this story, and thanks for your service as a police officer.
It's awesome that his daughter reached out to you after all these years.

Follow up: My wife and I did a Zoom with her last week. She explained in detail how
she located me using ChatGPT in a step by step process. I didn't realize until then how
powerful ChatGPT is. Maybe a little scary, but the end result was amazing.

I didn't share with her that I actually DID save 2 lives in my 21 years wit the Fort
Lauderdale PD. For me, that helped me recover from the one that I COULDN'T help.

Mike Dippel

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For Father's Day, my daughter's gift to me was a one-year subscription to a site called
Storyworth.com She wants me to write my memoirs and after the period of one year
she will get a hard copy of the book ad so will I. I called my daughter the night that this
happened and she suggested that I include this in the book. I have already written this
powerful chapter.

My sister gave my father one of those a year or two ago. He finished it
this year. The end product is very nice! He was worried initially about
not having enough to write about but, in the end, he and my sister actually
had to edit some out in order to stay under the page limit!

Don't be surprised if the same happens to you. ;)

Mike

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On 7/21/2025 10:19 AM, Dumas Walker wrote to Mike Dippel:

For Father's Day, my daughter's gift to me was a one-year subscription to a
site called
Storyworth.com She wants me to write my memoirs and after the period of one
year
she will get a hard copy of the book ad so will I. I called my daughter the
night that this
happened and she suggested that I include this in the book. I have already
written this
powerful chapter.

My sister gave my father one of those a year or two ago. He finished it this year. The end product is very nice! He was worried initially about not having enough to write about but, in the end, he and my sister actually had to edit some out in order to stay under the page limit!

Don't be surprised if the same happens to you. ;)

Mike

I am sure that it can happen. My daughter has a lot of questions about my childhood.
If I wasn't so old, I would be able to remember them. :(

Mike Dippel

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