INDIANAPOLIS -- A special team of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department negotiators is credited with compassion in an hours-long effort to help save a man's life on Wednesday and they're sharing their story to bring awareness to mental health issues in honor of Mental Health Awareness month.
Officers were called to the Kentucky Avenue bridge over the White River to help after a man climbed over the rail and threatened to jump.
The "Crisis Intervention Team" worked to find common ground and kept the man talking for three hours until he stepped away from the bridge's edge to safety.
The team's leader says they respond to as many as 60 calls of that nature each year, and it's something that his team is specially trained to do.
"Luckily 99% of the time they go well and we talk people out of getting hurt, but sometimes they don't. And then that weighs on you," said Commander Ron Hicks. "So that's why as the leader of the team, I am so grateful that yesterday's incident turned out well because I don't have any negotiators going home that I'm not concerned about."
For more information and mental health resources visit the National Alliance on Mental illness website or the following:
- 24-Hour Midtown Community Mental Health Crisis Line:
- 317-880-8485
- Appointments and/or Access at Midtown Community Mental Health:
- 317-880-8491
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