On August 25th at approximately 9:56am, Burlington Police Officers were alerted of a man standing on the ledge over the railing on the Great River Bridge. Upon arrival, officers made contact with the man and learned that he was in crisis. While waiting for a mobile crisis response team to be dispatched and for the crisis response team to arrive, the officers began speaking with the man to de-escalate the situation. They were able to build a rapport with the man, eventually convincing him to step away from the ledge and join the officers.
When the mobile crisis team arrived, the officers worked with them to develop a plan that would help the man. This included an evaluation by a licensed mental health provided, who determined the man was “no longer suicidal” but found that he was having issues with housing. The mobile crisis team was able to obtain temporary housing for the man and then took him to that location.
Then, at 5:53pm on the same day, officers were once again dispatched to the Great River Bridge. They were sent to check on a man sitting on the ramp to the bridge, and upon arrival, identified the man as the same man who had been standing on the ledge of the bridge earlier in the day. The officers determined that the man’s intention was not to injure himself or to jump off the bridge, and then he complied with officers when they asked him to not be on the bridge. He then was accompanied by the officers to a safer location.
The Burlington Police Department was assisted by the Burlington Fire Department and Elevate CCBHC Mobile Crisis Team.