By Bill Cunningham, the great American. Of course, News Nation is the source I use pot often for objective news and coverages of one pipe or another. And Natasha Zuvez is one of their great reporters. She's a broadcaster. She's also three times won Emmy Awards for independent journalism and things of that character, et cetera. And of course many issues are percolating, including what's happening with the tariffs, and
what's happening with trent To Ragua, TDA, et cetera. But in addition to that, Natasha has a new podcast out called Truth of the Matter, and there's a fantastic story posted relative to a Golden gate Bridge suicide that resulted in the attempted suicide not occurring, and Natasha Zuvez once again, welcome to the Bill Cunningham Show. Natasha tell us the story because I know San Francisco's Golden gate Bridge is this side of just so many suicides, persons that have
lost any reason to live. So tell the American people about this, about this person that jumped off the bridge and survived.
Bill. It's an incredible story. It's great to be on with you again, and it's posted right now as you said on the All the New podcast The Truth of the Matter, This is a man by the name of Kevin Hines, and he was nineteen years old when he said at the time, he thought he was his family's greatest burden. He thought he was youth. Of course, nothing
could have been further from the truth. He was so loved, but he headed to the Golden Gate Bridge, like far too many others, with the intention to die by suicide that day. And he says, you know, his dad could sense something was wrong that morning, but he hit it all.
He told his daughter he was fine, and you know, his dad dropped him off at City College in San Francisco, and Kevin says he remembers thinking, as my dad drove away us, the last time I'll ever see someone I love, and that's the last time anybody I love will ever see me. But he truly thought the world and his family would be better off without him. He made a pact with himself bill which Kevin says he's now an advocate who has helped thousands and thousands of people who
grapple with mental health issues. He says he made a pass like people often do who are making these kinds of plans, and he said, if one person says, are you okay? Is something wrong? Or can I help you? I was going to tell them everything and beg them to help me. And so he took the bus. He withdrew from his classes, took the bus openly crying on
the way to the bridge. Nineteen year old kid. He spends forty minutes on the bridge, tears streaming down his face, and then one person finally approaches him, a tourist, he says, with curly blonde hair. She smiles at him and says, will you take my picture? He takes her photo and catapults off the bridge, and that's just where the story begins built because he's overcome with overwhelming regrets the moment
he does this. He follows two hundred and twenty three feet likely hits the water at seventy five miles an hour. It's like hitting concrete going in a car, a three to four second fall. And as he's following, all he's thinking is what have I just done? I don't want to die. God sees save me and he hits the water and Bill what happens next? Even for me, someone who's been in the business a while and done some grizzly investigations. I couldn't believe it until we found the proof.
What is well, First of all, before we get to the prove, Natasha, give us a little bit of the social history of Kevin Hines nineteen years old. So many young Americans today appear to be lost, hard to get work, hard to find work, difficult to go to college, live in their parents' basement, live in their parents' house, difficult era. Well, what led him to the point of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.
Yeah, he suffered from mental health issues for sure. But you know, he talked about something today which I think is so important, which is he said, we are so disconnected from one another. You know, he was a young kid when this happened. Everybody is on their phones now, and this happened even before smartphones took over. But he was like, we need to just look up at one
another these days. I mean, you could be on a bus going all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge and a nineteen year old and I've he photos of him at that time. Bill, he looks like a kid, he looks like a little boy and openly crying, and not a single person would look up from their phone these days, and notice that anything is going on. We need the social network, the community. The fabric is broken. And you are right. We are in a situation today.
We're increasing. I mean, mental health has never been worse among our young people. They are sucked into their phones early. There are so many social issues, you know, the microplastics in their brain. Honestly, the list goes on. It's a hard time to be a young person in this country. And we all should be worried about the mental health of our children.
No question. And I can't tell you how many stories they hear about parents and their children that go to college, they drop out. They go to college, they get out, they don't can't find jobs commensurate what they perceive to be their skills. And we have fentanel. We have marijuana use as ubiquito as so many young men, especially or on their phone for porn. They live in some fantasy world without developing relationships with girls and women. They also
have gambling problems. You can bet on the next play. You can bet on ping pong in Ecuador. I saw this one story. You can bet on ping pong in Ecuador. Who's going to win? The next point and you live in some fantasy land and it's completely unaddressed. We don't have a system to help mental health, especially young men and young women and girls. And when you say that when he was falling, he had consciousness, Oh my god,
what have I done? It relates back to me when I had a distant family member who sadly committed a suicide, shot himself in the head, and then his significant other wasn't his wife is significant other looked in his eyes and would he could hear him almost say what have I done? And he did this to punish her, and he's dying and he wants to live the same thing as Kevin Hines. All right, so he's falling seventy five miles an hour, it's two hundred and twenty two story building.
Is what he fell into the cold, swirling waters of the Pacific Ocean. What happened as he was falling, what happened as.
He hit Yeah? Wow, what a poignant story. I thank you for sharing that. What is incredible about him is how many people do not survive an attempt like this, especially jumping off of the Golden Gate Bridge. How many of them? Bill had thoughts like this? Overwhelming regret. I don't want to die. God, please safe me. What have I done? And Kevin is actually able to tell us this tale, but he hits the water. His back is broken. He's an excruciating pain. He starts to think because he's
wearing heavy boots, heavy jacket. He says, three miracles saved him that day. We go into all three of them. They're extraordinary. On the podcast I'm going to tell you about just one of them today. For time. He says, something below him starts circling in the water and nudging him upwards because he was thinking, and finally it supported him like a table under the water for a minute. I stayed with him until the coast guard got there. When I first heard this tale, I met Kevin as
a journalist in San Francisco eight years ago. Actually was the first time I met him. I was like, we need proof. Now we found it. There was a man who was on the bridge that day who watched this happen. And you know, Kevin expresses regret today for all of the people he traumatized who were on the bridge that day, who watched this kid vault over the railing and fall into the water. A man who was standing on the bridge.
He was in another state now confirmed to me that he watched what happened and saw a sea lion saved Kevin in the water. And then I spoke to the coast Guard and they said a separate individual came to the station later that day and logged an account inquiring after the young man they saw jump off the bridge, saying, the most extraordinary thing happened as sea lion circled this boy and stayed with him and wouldn't let him sink.
And finally I found and spoke with the coast Guard officer who pulled him from the water that day, an incredible man by the name of Marcus Butler, and in his four years serving as a US Coast Guard at Station Golden Gate out there, he pulled fifty seven bodies from the water bill and just one live man. You can imagine. As soon as I said, do you remember Kevin, he said, yeah, he's the only man I pulled live
from the water. And he said that what many people don't realize is that people often do not die on impacts when they fall off the bridge, because it's an agonizing way to go. And he has not been able to shake these body recovery missions. He still has nightmares about it. He says it's the stuff from horror movies that you see out there on the water. But he says he arrived, he was like he's swimming. He's swimming
and the lights which went off in his mind. He's not a body with free This is a rescue that was a miracle. And he says that animals were always scared off by the sound the boat's make, so he didn't see the sea lion by the time he'd pulled right alongside this boy. But he said, it makes total sense to me because I remember thinking, how on earth is this? Is this young man lying on the surface of the water like a table. He's wearing long sleeves,
close pants, heavy boots. He can't swim through stuff like that. He's injured. Why is he lying like this? Why is he lying perfectly still on the surface of the water and waiting for me to get there. That is Kevin Hines's story, at least part of it. The rest of it, as I said, on the truth of the matter, because it's the gifts to be here every day, and he still lives with these chronic thoughts that dog him it's
not over. There has been no cure, but he says he will never die by suicide today and he has dedicated his whole life to sharing his story so that others know. It's overwhelming regrets on the other side, and help is available. People can as I know you definitely want to get out there, text to call nine eight eight. Help is always available though.
All right, so this story's incredible, it's unbelievable, but your credibility as a journalist is unimpeachable, So you're saying. Natasha Zuvez of Truth of the Matter also News Nation that a sea lion bob underneath them to hold his body up below the Golden Gate bridge before help arrived. That's what actually occurred.
That's what actually occurred, according to two separate witnesses who saw it that day. They believe in animal, likely a sea lion. Is possible that it was a dolphin because I also go to a Marina expert and from that far up she says they look identical. But two separate people said of sea lion circled him, stayed with him, held him aloft, held him like a table under the water for minutes until the coast guard got there. He would not have survived without it.
Uh, one might ask how is he doing his relationship with his family, relationship with his dad. Did the underlying problems that caused this attempt at suicide? Have they been solved? Are they better? Are they definitely is getting help?
What?
How did think?
That's a good question. Yeah, it's that's a good question. And this is so important, Bill. No, the underlying problems have not been solved, and that's important. He will live with mental health struggles for the rest of his life, but he is determined to live with them. And I think that's really important because so many of us, and far too many of our youth struggle. The issue is not the struggle that he is resourced now and he knows what to do. His relationship with his father has
completely bloomed after this. In the podcast, he doesn't see an incredible account as his father seeing his father, his strong dad, who rarely shows emotion, breaks down and cry in the hospital as he approached his bed after this attempt, and Kevin says he never could have seen the life that was waiting for him, his dad being the best man at his wedding, the incredible speech that he gave, he has met the love of his life who is his biggest support. And now they go all around the country.
They are asked to speak to large groups both law enforcement, government, you know, senators, congressman, as well as young people to share this story and share this account. This struggle will never be over for him. But he says he will never die by suicide.
Well, and the story that I had years ago of this guy who shot himself in the head to punish his significant other for X and then he's dying and is looking his eye was what have I done? I love you, I'm sorry and so and he had the time, and I guess Kevin Hines had the time. They live, one live, one didn't live. But that is some aspect of suicide which is so final that just before consciousness is lost that many times the individual who's committing suicide
is very sorry they did it. So you're saying, in Kevin Hines's case, as his body is falling and flailing from two hundred and twenty three feet of twenty two story building and he hits splat, hitting water is like hitting concrete, And in those moments of consciousness, he had such regret a three or.
Four seconds and it's feared in his brain the most cogent of thoughts, what have I done? I don't want to die? God, please save me? And he hits the water. It's incredible that he's able, almost from the other side, to be able to tell us that so many people cannot.
Natasha, is this a Religon moment? Is this proof of God's existence or simply evidence thereof or simply a serendipitous event where a passing sea lion decided to save somebody?
What is it? Who can answer that question? I can tell you this episode just went live yesterday and all of the comments say God sent that sea lion, and I who am I to disabuse anyone of that notion? I believe it all right.
More of the stories that truth of the matter. Of the podcast, Natasha and Zouvez, we had planned to talk about all the big issues today, about the tariffs and about more illegals committing acts of Mayhem, and the fact that TDA is split into two groups. But when we started down this path doesn't give us enough time to deal with the other ones. But I guess I wish Kevin Hines, I do. I wish Kevin Hines and his family well he's one in a million, one in several thousand.
No human being can survive the fall he did for a particular reason. Hopefully his life will be led differently. Now, have you maybe in five or ten years check with him and see how has he how's he doing, what has he done with with with the time given to him.
He's already done so much. And absolutely I will, Bill, thank you. I hope people check it out, the truth of the matter. And of course you know I'll see everyone on these nations for on weekend starting at seven eastern. Bill. It's always a pleasure. Thank you so much, thank you.
And for those who need help, you hit nine eight eight. Explain how that came about, because that's why we have to hit area codes now. But nine eight eight, how how much time? How many lives?
It's so important, I mean so yeah. Before it was a cumbersome process and you know, siloed by different areas. It's so simple now literally call or text nine eight eight from your phone. Help is always available mental health and suicide lifeline. That is the message today. It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And Kevin him, you know, attests to that absolutely all.
Right, Natasha, thank you very much, great work and thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show. Thank you, Natasha, thank you. All right, let's continue with more Wow nine eight eight. Help is always available, and in moments just before your eyes shut, men who commit suicide have that look saying what have I done to myself? What have done to my family? All right, let's continue. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven hundred WLW