(CNN) A New York plumber was on his way home from work in the middle of a snowstorm Monday afternoon when he saw someone standing on top of one of the Brooklyn Bridge's many beams.

"My first instinct was, 'oh my God, this person doesn't belong up there'" Joey Hansen, 29, told CNN. "This man was going to take his life and I knew that I had to step up and do something."

Hansen, who was in the passenger's side of a friend's car, rolled down the window and tried to get his attention.

"I was like 'Hey boss!'" said Hansen, who was born and raised in Bergen Beach, New York. "It's slang, like a term I call my friends."

But the plumber from UA Plumbers Local 1 didn't stop there.

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