COLUMBUS – A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy is being hailed as a hero for talking a suicidal man out of throwing himself from a freeway overpass Monday morning on the Southwest Side.
Deputy William Ball was on routine patrol just before 6:30 Monday morning when he noticed a man looking over the wall of the Georgesville Road overpass over I-270, Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said.
Ball, who is a Crisis Intervention Tactics-trained deputy, backed up, got out of his cruiser and approached the man and talked to him, trying to get him away from the wall, Baldwin said.
As the man began to open up and talk feelings he was having about wanting to harm himself he suddenly began walking towards Ball, saying that Ball would have to shoot him to get him to stop from jumping, Baldwin said.
Going back toward the wall, the man was heard yelling, “I’m sorry, I got nothing left; I’m just done” as he attempted to jump. Ball was able to grab the man’s legs and pull him back onto the roadway. After a struggle that lasted for several seconds, Baldwin says Ball was able to get the man away from the wall and under control.
Baldwin says two passers-by stopped and helped Ball before additional personnel arrived.
The man, whose name was not released, was taken to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Crisis Intervention Tactics training instructs deputies on how to deal with people who are experiencing a mental health crisis and Baldwin says the incident indicates its effectiveness.