POUGHKEEPSIE – A combative, suicidal male was taken into custody for his own safety on Wednesday afternoon in Poughkeepsie. Police were alerted to a suicidal male that threatened to jump to his death from the Walkway Over the Hudson at approximately 4:00 p.m. on July 12, 2023.
Responding City of Poughkeepsie police officers located the man on the Walkway just west of Washington Street. The Walkway was closed to all but emergency personnel as police negotiators made contact with the man and convince him not to jump. Washington Street was closed to traffic between Parker and Bain Avenues while the Poughkeepsie Fire Department responded to the scene with Engine 2, Tower Ladder 2, and a truck carrying the city’s emergency airbag cushion that was provided to the city in 2021 by MHA Dutchess County. The large cushion was unable to be deployed on the ground on Wednesday because of the tight space where the man was positioned.
The subject had stopped on the Walkway east of Washington Street where the path goes between the Sunoco station to the north and Foreign Car Specialists immediately to the south. He was approximately 30-35 feet above the ground. After an hour of negotiating, the subject was convinced to join a city cop and firefighter in the bucket of Tower Ladder 2 that had been raised to the Walkway from its position in the parking lot of the gas station at 128 Washington Street.
He was lowered to the ground and became combative when police, fire, and EMS personnel attempted to secure him in the ambulance to be transported to MidHudson Regional Hospital for a mental evaluation. After a brief struggle he was secured and removed from the scene by Empress EMS around 5:05 p.m. and both the Walkway and Washington Street were reopened to the public a short time later.
The Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office also assisted at the scene.
