Will Guzzardi

A Chicago police sergeant and two officers have been nominated for one of the department’s highest honors after their extraordinary actions to save the life of a suicidal undocumented worker.

Officers Frank Zotta and Charlie Bell were on patrol on April 5th in the 13th police district, an area that covers much of Humboldt Park. Rolling past a highway overpass near Augusta Boulevard and Milwaukee Avenue, the officers spotted a man clinging to the fence, apparently ready to jump to his death onto the Kennedy Expressway.

"We saw him climbing up there, screaming and crying, we realized right away what he was going to do," Officer Bell told HuffPost Chicago. Bell had seen another suicide jump from the same spot. "We went right up to him, talked to him, tried to keep his mind off jumping."

They radioed for a supervisor, and Sergeant Richard Gonzalez, who was right around the corner, sped to the scene. He spoke to the officers, realized the man was a Spanish speaker, and approached him nervously.

“I’ve been on the job eighteen years, but I’ve never gone through this,â€