SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — The fiancée of a Good Samaritan who died Wednesday when he jumped over a bridge railing in Pine Valley spoke with News 8 following the tragedy.
Authorities say the man had stopped to help someone who had been in a wreck when a second wreck happened. The man – later identified as 48-year-old Robert Bruno – tried to run to safety and jumped to avoid being hit.
“It’s indescribable,” said Bruno’s fiancée Gwendolyn Sneed.
Sneed spoke with News 8 by phone as she fought back tears.
“It wouldn’t be unlike him to pull over and help somebody out,” said Sneed. “He did what he thought was right at the time.”
Sneed learned Wednesday that the man she was with for 20 years had died trying to help someone he didn’t even know.
“He was that guy to help out a friend, to help out a stranger” said Sneed.
She says Bruno and she lived in Jacumba Hot Springs and that he was on his way to work in San Diego when he saw a Ford F-150 blocking the westbound Interstate 8 near the Pine Valley Bridge around 5 a.m.
“It has snowed last night so the roads were super icy,” said Sneed.
CHP said the icy, foggy conditions caused the F-150 with a baby inside hit a guard rail. They said speed played a role as well.
CHP said Bruno pulled over his Subaru then moments later two other cars came crashing into the first scene. He tried to get out of the way by running to the south edge of the bridge then jumping over the railing.
"There's different parts of the bridge where it's not as steep,” said Sneed.
Unfortunately, the area where Bruno jumped was a 300 - 400-foot drop to the Pine Valley Creek below.
Authorities located Bruno's body about an hour later.
The driver of the Ford F-150 received only minor injuries, the baby was not hurt, nor were the occupants of the other vehicles.
Sneed doesn't hold any anger towards the other motorists and offers this advice:
“We’re so distracted by our cell phones and radio and things going on in our lives that we kind of forget that Mother Nature has complete control.”
Sneed also said she and Bruno raised his son in Ocean Beach and his family still lives in San Diego. They plan to hold services for Bruno in the next week or so.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with expenses.
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