WARREN, Mich. – Quick-thinking Warren police officers prevented a tragedy Easter Sunday when they successfully intervened to save a 32-year-old man from committing suicide on an interstate overpass.
Multiple 911 calls alerted the Warren Police Department to a man scaling the safety barrier on the Groesbeck Highway overpass above Interstate 696 around 6:55 p.m. on April 20.
Officers arrived to find the man positioned atop the safety fence.
“Our officers are forced to make those split-second decisions, and what do they do? They calm down. They start using time, and they start establishing that personal connection,” said Lt. John Gajewski of the Warren Police Department.
Police said the man shared his mental health struggles with officers.
“We can figure this out together,” an officer said to the man on the bodycam video released by the Warren Police Department. “We have all been through something.”
During the conversation, officers strategically positioned themselves near the man.
They were able to then bring him down safely from the fence.
“This was a tragedy in progress that our officers prevented,” Gajewski said.
The man was transported to a local hospital for mental health evaluation, police said.
“This is not a situation about using force, and arrest, or tickets. This is about the backbone of policing, helping the public. This is what we do. This is who we are, and this is the reason a lot of us show up to work every day is to help people. And in this case, our officers saved their life,” Gajewski said.