ATLANTA — An Atlanta Police sergeant spoke about his experience of helping a man avoid "doing the unthinkable" when he talked him off a bridge over I-20 last Sunday.
The Atlanta Police Department posted this week about the episode, which involved a man in distress standing on the Fairburn Rd. bridge over I-20 and threatening to attempt suicide.
"Jumping is not the answer," the department said in its post.
Police said the 29-year-old man had "expressed suicidal thoughts" and "planned to get a knife and then jump from a nearby overpass."
When officers arrived, Sgt. Jason Combee told 11Alive's Dalia Perez that the man told him he was experiencing a family situation that brought him to those feelings.
"I told him, 'Well that's a permanent solution to a temporary problem, we can get you help if you come off the bridge for us,'" Combee said.
Combee explained that the man had a "positive response" to his initiating a dialogue.
He said he was able to convince him to walk back along the fence to his starting point. Combee said the man did so "without any complications, and Grady EMS was on scene and as soon as he made it off we got him help with Grady."
The sergeant said he has seen more situations like this since the pandemic began, describing an "uptick" of them. He said he has had good training and most of these situations end on a positive note, and he noted that on Sunday he was thankful to "have a chance to help him."
"It felt good to find some common ground with him, to prevent him from doing the unthinkable, which would have brought a lot of pain to him and his family," Combee said.
APD noted in its Facebook post that "this incident could have ended in tragedy."
"We are grateful it did not... the calm demeanor, professionalism, and humanity displayed by Sgt. Combee is worthy of recognition," APD said. "We are proud to have him and so many officers and supervisors on our force who act in the highest interest of the community each day. We hope this gentleman gets the help he needs and that he understands the only way things get better, is to get help, keep living, and fight for change and better days."