Murfreesboro dispatcher saves Mississippi man’s life

Story by Toriana Williams / Contributing Writer

Photo courtesy of Murfreesboro Voice

A suicidal man in Mississippi is alive today due to the determination of one of Murfreesboro’s own.

On Dec. 26 2019, Murfreesboro Dispatcher Brady Lutton was browsing a Firefighter Facebook group, when he saw suicidal posts made by a distraught man–who will remain anonymous– living in Mississippi.

Lutton, who was nearly 500 miles away, spoke with the distressed man for hours on the phone before discovering an address for the man that ended up being false.

“He is sending me on a wild goose chase, but I will find him,” said Lutton.

After being unable to find the man’s exact location, Lutton used a different strategy and convinced him to walk into a local fire station in Gulfport, Mississippi. The man was then evaluated and transported to a hospital by EMS.

“Brady don’t stop doing what you do. People need you,” the man wrote Lutton via Facebook Messenger the next day. “I don’t know where things would have gone last night…Keep going, don’t you give up. You’re good at what you do.”

Afterwards, Lutton was nominated by Murfreesboro Police Chief Michael Bowen to receive the Murfreesboro branch of the NAACP Jerry Anderson Hero Award for his wonderful and selfless act. Lutton was then presented the Jerry Anderson Hero Award Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast held at Middle Tennessee State University James Union Building.

Lake Region Mutual Fire Aid Chief Coordinator Jonathan Goldman, another responder who helped reach the suicidal man in Mississippi, plans to nominate Lutton for the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International Telecommunicator of the Year award. He wrote, “We often hear that 9-1-1 Dispatchers are the ‘First, First Responders’ and make a difference every day,” Goldman continued, “Dispatcher Lutton utilized the technology available to him, and clearly assisted someone who wasn’t even in his jurisdiction in such a way that it will make a permanent, life altering difference in this person’s life.”