WYANDOTTE, Mich. – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said suicidal thoughts have increased in all age groups since the pandemic began.
This month, Wyandotte police helped save two men -- one in his early 30′s the other in his late 50s -- from jumping in the Detroit River.
Early Wednesday morning, police were trying desperately to prevent a man from jumping into the Detroit River.
”It’s dark, the water’s obviously dark and that presents a very dangerous situation,” said Police Chief Archie Hamilton.
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Trained in crisis intervention, the officer slowly built a rapport with the man.
“Once he did get close enough, he grabbed a hold of the man as he was attempting to jump in the river. And once the officer had a hold of him, the man actually began to struggle and the officer tried to climb over the edge, and he nearly took the officer over with him,” Hamilton said.
That’s when another officer jumped into action, and the pair stopped the man from harming himself.
Ten days earlier, Wyandotte police received a call about another man trying to jump into the river.
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“That young man was in severe emotional crisis. He was actually having an emotional overload. You can tell by his behavior. He was sobbing, he was not looking at the officer, he was not acknowledging the officer. He was in his own world,” Hamilton said.
This time, it was much harder to reach the man in need of help.
“That walkway sways back and forth and it’s very unstable. So it was presented a very dangerous situation for the officers,” Hamilton said.
When the officer got close enough, he touched the man, realized he wouldn’t fight back and pulled him to safety.
“A lot of people that are struggling and going through crisis, they think they’re alone and they’re not. And you can see from these two incidents illustrate that,” Hamilton said. “These two men, they didn’t think they had any friends, they didn’t think they had any family members, but they have a complete stranger in these officers that truly care and you can tell they care by the sincerity from their voice... They saved these two men. Without a doubt, they saved their lives.”