Let’s call him Joe. Last month, he stood atop a 10-story parking garage in downtown Dallas, toes hanging over a narrow ledge, ready to go.

“My intention was to go splat right quick,” he told me.

But a Dallas cop intervened, and Joe feels so grateful these days for Sgt. Michael Magiera.

Joe is embarrassed by all the commotion he caused that Friday afternoon. That’s why he doesn’t want his name used.

But he hopes to direct plenty of attention toward Magiera, whose sensitivity saved his life that day, he says, and whose continuing concern has buoyed him in the weeks since.

Joe copied me on a letter of praise for Magiera that he sent to Dallas city leaders. When I wrote back to him, he agreed to a visit in his suburban home last week.

Joe is a 46-year-old professional. He said he has dealt with depression and anxiety issues for about 10 years, but never to the extent they slammed him on April 2.

He said a stormy personal phone call at the office led to a blow-up with his boss and a threatened firing. “That was it,” Joe said. “I just went snap.”

Though he had never contemplated suicide, it suddenly became his only thought. He went straight from his office to the roof of his parking garage.

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