"Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do." Those are the poignant words a woman in Orlando, Florida, told a stranger in a bid to stop him from taking his own life, quoting 'One More Light' by Linkin Park.
Healthcare worker Cristina Settanni was driving to work when she noticed the man sat on the ledge of a bridge. Initially she drove past him just like every other motorist was doing, but upon seeing him through her rear view mirror, she made the decision to stop.
Speaking in a video posted by Florida's Orange County Sheriff's Office, Cristina said: "I stopped because I've been where he was. So I know what it's like to stand on the ledge and think that that's your only option.
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"He needed somebody to show that somebody cared enough to stop, and enough to tell him that he didn't need to do that today."
This was the moment that she took the decision to use some of her favourite lyrics from Linkin Park's song 'One More Light'.
Explaining her thought process, she continued: "There was a moment he moved forward and I did kind of move towards him like, 'Nope, if you go, I go.'
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"It's a Linkin Park song: 'Who cares if one more light goes out / In a sky of a million stars?' Like, I do. One person cares. And I don't know if it clicked with him, but he just cried."
Police arrived on scene as Cristina comforted the unnamed man and he was pulled to safety.
Deputy Shaun Cayer said: "When I walked up and she had that really calm demeanour, it looked more like she was trying to help him than them making some kind of pact with each other.
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"I'd have preferred if she didn't sit on that side of the bridge with him."
It came about that the man had made some bad decisions and thought he had let his family down. He wasn't arrested, but was taken to a mental healthcare facility.
Deputy Cayer added: "He figured that that was his only course of action now, was just to end it. Not be anybody else's problem."
'One More Light' was released two months before Linkin Park's frontman, Chester Bennington, took his own life in July 2017. Since the story unfolded, Linkin Park tweeted to thank Cristina for what she did.
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Featured Image Credit: Orange County Sheriff's Office/TwitterTopics: News, Linkin Park, Mental Health, UOKM8?, US News, Orlando
