(INSIDE EDITION) - A South Carolina police officer found a way to connect to a suicidal man and helped save his life.
Master Patrol Officer Michael Blackmore responded to a call on September 10 at around 4 a.m. to a man who sitting on the ledge of the Columbia Bridge in Columbia.
In recently released body cam video, the man can be heard crying and saying he no longer wished to live.
The officer told InsideEdition.com that the man called into the police station to say he was going to jump off the bridge. Blackmore was close to the scene, so he responded right away.
Blackmore found a way to connect with the man, using football as a way to strike up conversation.
They talked about like University of South Carolina Gamecocks before drifting to the NFL and the Washington Redskins as well as their common disdain for the Dallas Cowboys.
"None of us want you to hurt yourself, bud," Blackmore told the man in the video. "I'm going to be out here riding around Saturday and Sunday night, I'm going to see you on the street and were going to talk about the Gamecocks game."
By the end of the conversation, which Blackmore said lasted about eight and a half minutes, the officer asked the man if he could take him by the hand and help him off the ledge. With the help of other authorities, Blackmore helped the man from the pavement.
Blackmore credits the training he received from the Columbia Police Department to help the man. He was taught to get someone's mind off of the situation when they respond to a call like the one he had.
"Whatever was bothering him in that moment probably won't be bother him in a few days, which is why I tried to get his mind onto football," the officer told InsideEdition.com.
Since Blackmore is a big football fan, he tried to find common ground with the man at the bridge and it worked.
This is not the first time the officer has used football to save someone's life. He said he responded to a call in August and talked a man from taking his own life by using the same football technique he used at the bridge.