2 Pittsburgh Police Officers Hailed As Heroes For De-Escalating Situation With Suicidal Man
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - It could have turned deadly when two Pittsburgh Police Officers approached a man wanting to commit suicide by cop.
However, thanks to the officers' quick observations, it ended peacefully. Now, social media is blowing up with praise for the two heroes.
Pittsburgh Police officers Brandon Crane and Daniel Joyce were called to what seemed like a no-win situation Friday.
"Shortly before 4, we had a call for a suicidal male at the 6600 block of Apple Street," said Office Crane.
"Further information came out that he wanted to commit suicide by cop," said, Officer Joyce.
Together, the officers approached the man and started talking to him.
"Immediate words he told us that he wanted to die. My partner saw that he had his hand in his pocket. Asked him to remove his hand from his pocket. At that time, he pointed a gun at us," said Officer Joyce.
The officers credit their training in making the critical observation that the gun was not real.
"We confronted him about the fake weapon. He then threw the fake weapon off to the side. We talked him over to the sidewalk and we were able to apprehend him without further incident," said Officer Crane.
They took the man for a mental health evaluation to make sure he gets the help he needs.
Zone 5 Cmdr. Jason Lando could not be prouder of his Officers.
"They rolled into a situation that what we call in policing is tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving. In many cases, we would have seen this play out very differently, but thanks to their training and expertise, they were able to identify the weapon the young man had in his hand was not in fact real and ended the situation peacefully," said Cmdr. Lando.
The Officers are also getting tons of thanks and praise on social media. By Saturday, the post about it on Zone 5's Facebook page had over 27,000 likes and over 6,000 shares.
While it's nice to hear people appreciate their work, the heroic officers are just grateful they were able to save the man's life.
"I felt like I really made a difference. It's rare when you can actually be there at the right time, at the right place, and do the right thing and have a great outcome, where everyone walks away safely," said Officer Crane.
