Nyraine Santiago (
)
Two Harlem men became instant heroes yesterday when they saved a suicidal 21-year-old Bronx woman in a daring rescue on the George Washington Bridge.
Alfred Ragucci, 51, was driving co-worker Nyraine Santiago, 25, into Manhattan at about 4 p.m. when they spotted a petit woman standing on the outer railing.
“I thought, ‘Is she gonna do what I think she is?’ ” Santiago recalled.
Ragucci said he knew she was serious because she wasn’t looking behind her.
Ragucci immediately pulled the car over, and the two men sprang into action.
“We didn’t want to startle her, so we walked calmly toward her. We were trying to tippy-toe toward her,” Santiago recalled.
Other motorists pulled over and started to yell, “Don’t do it” — but that appeared to only encourage her to jump, Santiago said.
“No sooner than we got near the railing, this girl leaped and we just grabbed her arms,” said Ragucci.
“She was in the air — literally in the air — going into the water.”
Santiago added, “We grabbed her by her wrists. It was like a movie.
“Luckily, she was maybe 120 pounds soaking wet.”
The men pulled her back over the railing to safety.
They said the woman, who identified herself only as Lizzie, said little afterward as they held on to her until Port Authority police arrived.
“She just said she wanted to die,” said Ragucci, adding that the dramatic scene lasted only five minutes.
The men, who work for Urab Garden Center and were both born and raised in Manhattan, tried to gently counsel her.
“We just said, ‘Whatever you’re going through, it’s gonna get better,’ ” Santiago recalled.
The two men insisted they were not heroes.
“We were just in the right place at the right time,’’ said Santiago.
“I’m not going to just stand there and let somebody take their life.’’
The name of the would-be suicide, who was taken to New York- Presbyterian Hospital for observation, was withheld.
At least nine people have jumped to their deaths from the bridge so far this year. The grim record of 13 was set in 2010.
PA cops have increased foot patrols.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing