Overview
- The encounter, recorded April 12 on body camera, shows Jacksonville officers coaxing a man off the Dames Point Bridge before embracing him.
- Officer Antonio Richardson kept a steady conversation for about 40 minutes and asked to pray with the man while reaching out his hand.
- Richardson, an 18-year Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office veteran and a pastor for more than 30 years, said he prayed throughout and wept afterward.
- Other officers offered direct reassurance, including one who told the man, “I love you. We all love you.”
- A 96-second clip that spread online captures only a small slice of what police describe as a roughly 40-minute standoff that ended safely.