A lucky man

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This article was published 06/05/2009 (5715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – Joseph Mousseau thought his feet would touch pavement as he vaulted easily over the metal railing of the Provencher Bridge on Sunday afternoon.

He was just trying to show off for his friends.

Instead, with no time to register his miscalculation — there’s a gap between the traffic bridge and the pedestrian bridge — Mousseau plummeted toward the dark water of the fast-moving, frigid Red River.

Hurtling down, his lower back and right ankle struck a concrete barrier before he smacked the river’s surface.

Though he’d recently stopped going to church, the 19-year-old man admits he prayed as he bobbed up and down in the water.

"I was talking to God. I was like, ‘I’ve been stupid. Forgive me, I don’t know what I was thinking when I jumped,’" Mousseau recalled late Wednesday.

"I made a mistake."

Immediately, the swirling Red pushed the stunned 123-pound man northeast toward a small park on the Tache Avenue riverbank. Mousseau called for help from his friends looking down from the bridge at him as he moved away. The teen, nicknamed ‘Monkey’ by a relative for his climbing ability, was in trouble.

"I was in the water and I was still blank, and I thought, ‘Maybe I should start swimming.’ I came up and I was already on the other side of the bridge," said Mousseau.

What he didn’t know was that a man splashing toward him would ultimately help him to shore.

That person was Faron Hall, 44, a homeless man who saw Mousseau’s awkward fall from the bridge as he sat near the river’s edge.

"(Hall) grabbed me and he said something. I don’t know what he said," said Mousseau.

The two started swimming toward shore.

"I came after him slowly. Once, I got to shore, I actually felt my injuries," said Mousseau, still walking with a slight limp.

Emergency crews rushed both men to hospital. Doctors at St. Boniface Hospital treated Mousseau, a student at Children of the Earth High School, for a bruised back and a sprained ankle.

Mousseau said he never expected to see Hall again — but on Wednesday, he sat at a coffee shop near his rented North End apartment and stared at a newspaper photo of Hall.

He’d seen media coverage of the incident, but didn’t initally want any publicity. Mousseau said a relative wanted to let Hall know just how much family members appreciated the homeless man’s courage.

"In the hospital before (Hall) left, he said, ‘I love you, man’ and he gave me a kiss on the forehead and left," Mousseau said.

Mousseau said he’s now looking forward to a possible meeting with his rescuer.

After attending 14 schools and living with a series of relatives, in a hotel and with a foster family, he said he knows what it’s like to feel homeless.

"I’d like to meet him to talk about the events," he said.

"I guess I’d like to thank him for jumping in… "

A relative of Mousseau’s said he’d like to thank Hall, too.

"It takes a lot of guts, if someone’s drowning in the Red River, there’s lots of current."

Mousseau said he’s learned from the failed jump.

"A lot of people say, ‘Look before you leap,’" he said.

"I’ve joked (about) that phrase, ‘If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?’ And I tell them, ‘I lead them (over).’"

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca