PORT ANGELES — A woman threatening to commit suicide was pulled to safety from the top deck of the viewing tower at Port Angeles City Pier, city police said.
Officers Allen Brusseau and Brian Stamon made a “quick decision” to grab the woman and pull her over the railing to the floor of the observation deck Wednesday night, Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said.
Brusseau and Stamon will each be nominated for the department’s Life Saving Award.
“To me, it’s just doing my job,” Brusseau said Thursday.
“I’m not one who worries about awards. That’s not what I do the job for.”
Police and fire units were dispatched to City Pier after emergency dispatchers received a report of a suicidal woman at 9:25 p.m., Smith said.
The 9-1-1 caller reported seeing a woman hanging onto the outside railing on the top deck of the three-story tower.
When they arrived, Stamon and Brusseau heard a woman crying and screaming from the top of the tower.
“She was pretty much incoherent,” Brusseau said.
The officers climbed two-thirds of the way up the stairs and tried talking to the woman.
“She made numerous statements regarding her desire to commit suicide,” Smith said in a news release.
“As fire department units were arriving on scene, the officers made a quick decision, moved forward and grabbed onto both her back and her arm.”
Although normal protocol would dictate that first responders rope up before going outside of a three-story railing, the officers “seized an opportunity and took immediate action to prevent serious injury or death,” Smith said.
Said Brusseau: “At some point, we decided we can’t wait any longer.
“We gently grabbed her arms on both sides.”
The woman, whose age and hometown were unknown, was placed into police custody under the Washington Involuntary Treatment Act for her protection. No citation was issued.
The woman was transported by the Port Angeles Fire Department to Olympic Medical Center for evaluation.
She had calmed down and was trying to rest when Brusseau last saw her.
Brusseau said the incident was the fourth time he physically stopped a person from a possible suicide attempt in 23 years with the Police Department.
Stamon has been with the department for about eight years.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
