By Stephanie Balloo

Copyright birminghammail

A Birmingham hero has spoken of the astonishing moment he saved a man from plunging to his death on the Aston Expressway. Jex Parkin, from Sutton Coldfield , spotted the distressed stranger – thought to be in his early 30s – with ‘his head in his hands’ standing on a bridge over the city’s busy A38 carriageway. While others simply drove on past the concerning sight, the 24-year-old jumped into action to ensure his safety. Read more: Drivers urged to ‘ditch their cars’ as thousands of train fares slashed in half-price sale As he approached, the man began climbing the railings to jump – but Mr Parkin wrestled him to the ground and restrained him for his safety until police arrived. The 999 log with West Midlands Police , seen by BirminghamLive, details a minute-by-minute breakdown of the incident – from the initial call and the restraint, to the attempts to climb over and police arriving 15 minutes later. Mr Parkin, who plays for Harborne RFC, was heading to meet his rugby friends when he spotted the man on the bridge on Friday, June 20. He was ‘put up’ to speaking out about the incident by a friend, who he says ‘grassed him in’ to BirminghamLive over the heroic act. “I was driving under the bridge and I saw this guy with his head in his hands, looking quite stressed,” he recalled. “I thought you knew what, I’d better just make sure everything’s okay. I pulled off, parked up and I thought, I’ll walk over and have a chat and it might be the case nothing’s wrong – or it might be the case something is, and obviously something was. “I started walking towards him and he saw me coming and panicked a little bit. He was standing there with his head in his hands, looking out for ages. He just looked really upset like he’d had a really bad day. “He started trying to jump over, so he was climbing up onto the railing, and I’m thinking ‘God’, so I quite quickly run over to him and my heart’s pounding. I had to grab him and pull him back off, and end up wrestling on the ground with him, which wasn’t ideal. “He was trying to jump, so he obviously was fed up and wanted to end it.” At one stage, after pulling him off the railings, he “kind of embraced him” in a bid to add reassurance. “As I’m wrestling him off the railing, he just starts crying to me and saying he’s had a bad day, he really kind of opened up,” he added. “Still, again, he kept getting up and trying to make a break for it, I almost had to keep him restrained on the floor.” The Good Samaritan then dialled 999 for the help of officers, who arrived around 15 minutes later. While waiting, the man told him he had moved to Birmingham a few years ago, but had no friends of family and was suffering from mental health issues. “Police came and they joined me and he was still really distressed as they put him in the van,” he added. “I am really happy that I was one to take action, but it could have been anybody. “People do think ‘someone else will help him’, but if everyone has that mentality, no one’s going to do it are they?” “It’s really important someone does.” When life is difficult, Samaritans are here – day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org , or visit www.samaritans.org for more information Have you been affected by this, or do you have a similar story to tell? We would like to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com