RUMFORD – A split-second decision by a patrolman early Thursday night damaged a police cruiser but saved the life of a young Rumford girl before she could jump 80 feet off Veterans Bridge into the Androscoggin River.

Officer Scott Mills, 25, said he was patrolling Rumford Avenue when he was alerted at 7:15 p.m. to watch for a suicidal young girl headed for a bridge.

The dispatcher didn’t specify which of the three bridges it was: the one at the top of Falls Hill above Pennacook Falls Dam, Morse Bridge opposite the main falls pool, or Veterans Bridge, just beyond Lower Pennacook Falls.

As Mills approached Rumford Public Library, he spotted a girl walking away from him toward Portland Street over Veterans Bridge. She matched the description given. He pulled over into the library parking lot and opened his door.

“I said, ‘Hey!’ to her, she looked back, saw me, and started sprinting for the bridge,” Mills said late Tuesday afternoon at the police station. “I immediately jumped out of the cruiser and ran after her. She was a good 15 to 20 yards ahead of me. I kept yelling, ‘Stop! Stop!’ but she wouldn’t.”

The girl ran across the bridge to the high point. Mills said that’s when he saw Sgt. James Bernard in a cruiser beyond her on the opposite side, but Bernard wouldn’t arrive in time. He hurried.

“By that time, I had closed the distance to about three or four feet. She went to the bridge edge, put both hands on the railing as if she was going to jump, and I tackled her,” he said.

The girl, whom Mills said was very quiet but cooperative after he subdued her, was taken to Rumford Hospital to be evaluated.

Her identity was not released.

Unbeknownst to Mills, he’d left his cruiser in gear. It rolled forward and struck a handrail post, doing an estimated $1,000 in damage to the 2004 Chevrolet Impala’s left front end.

“It happened so quick. I didn’t even have time to think about it,” Mills said of the incident.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Chief Stacy Carter and Detective Lt. Mark Cayer credited the soft-spoken patrolman, who has worked for the department for more than two years, with doing the right thing and saving the girl’s life. “Had he taken a second to make sure (the cruiser) was in park, that girl probably would have been over the bridge,” Cayer said.