What to do when someone threatens to jump?
ELGIN -- You're walking downtown and you notice someone about to jump off a bridge. What do you do?
Several people were confronted with that exact scenario early Tuesday afternoon and had to quickly make a decision -- call 911, step in to try to calm the person down, attempt a rescue, or just ignore it?
(Michael Smart / Staff Photographer)
Fortunately, they made the right choice, and an apparently troubled young woman is alive today perhaps because of it.
Elgin Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda said the best way for people to get involved in times of emergencies would be to call 911 immediately because of the uncertainty of the situation.
"People like that you don't want to get too close because you don't know what their mindset is," he said. "Just keep an eye on them until we can show up."
Swoboda said neither should an attempt be made to rescue someone in the river, especially this time of year. Oftentimes that just adds to the number of persons emergency crews inevitably have to rescue.
"It's normal for people to want to do that, but realistically, it just makes it more difficult for the fire department when they get here," he said. "That water's really cold and it can put you in shock really quick, and you're not going to be much of a help to somebody at that point."
Karen Beyer, the executive director of Ecker Center for Mental Health in Elgin, said it can be a difficult decision on whether to attempt to directly help a suicidal person, and a passer-by could get hurt by intervening.
"If someone's threatening suicide on a bridge, it's a judgement call," said Beyer. "You ask yourself, 'Should I take their coattails or do I have time to call the police?'"
"Sometimes, you can't stop someone and if you try, you might perish with them," Beyer continued.
However, Beyer said you might step in if "you could physically keep someone from making that jump or if you thought you could stand there and talk with them and call the police on your cell phone so they (police) could grab them."
She also suggested that if you can talk to the person contemplating suicide, to tap into the personal.
"People usually have something or someone in their lives, which would prevent them from committing suicide at the moment," said Beyer, a former therapist. "You might try to bring the conversation around someone in their life who depends on them and loves them and would be hurt deeply if they died and they know it."
She suggested posing a question like, "How would your mother feel?" Or creating a hypothetical such as, "Your children will be left alone."
"If they're thinking about that, it could make a difference," said Beyer.
Immediate help is available, she noted, such as visiting the Psychiatric Emergency Program run through Sherman Hospital's emergency department at 934 Center St. or calling the program at (847) 888-2211.
