POLICE MAN RESCUED FROM TRYING TO COMMIT SUICIDE

Suicidal Mandeville Cop Rescued From Atop Building, Receiving Counselling

A senior policeman seeks to keep away the crowd near the building on which the constable had climbed threatening to jump.

There were huge crowds and dramatic scenes in Mandeville, Manchester this morning as emergency responders spent more than an hour trying to rescue a police constable who climbed atop a building on Hotel Street in the town centre with a rope around his neck threatening to jump.

One eyewitness said the policeman, dressed in his uniform, had also used a tam hat to cover his face.

IN PHOTO: The policeman being lowered in the bucket of a JPS truck almost an hour after efforts began for him to abandon his suicidal plan.

Fire authorities who arrived on the scene mounted a ladder and police personnel sought to convince the young cop to come down, but he would not yield.

At one point, he reportedly became irate and demanded that the ladder be removed, saying he would not use it.

Several minutes later, a Jamaica Public Service vehicle was called and it took some coaxing from a woman, said to be a relative of the cop, before he finally agreed to be lowered in the bucket of the JPS truck.

The cop is now being counselled by personnel from the Northern Caribbean University.

The Head of the Manchester Police, Superintendent Vendolyn Cameron Powell was not immediately available for comment.

However, it is understood that the cop has been having problems and had been receiving counselling.

The incident caused a huge traffic pile up as curious passersby gathered along the road to get a glimpse of the cop.

The incident happened less than 100 metres from the Mandeville police station and the nearby Area Three Police Headquarters where the young constable works.