But they typically don’t see what police officers say they see almost every day.
Helping people suffering from mental health issues is a big part of a police officer’s job.
“It’s constant,” Salt Lake City Police Officer Bridger Prince said.
Recently released body camera footage showed an incident from last year that showed a man hanging over the edge of a parking lot at the corner of North Temple and 400 West.
He was threatening to let me go.
“I absolutely believed he would do it. 100 percent,” Prince said.
Prince was one of three Salt Lake City police officers who ran to the roof of the parking lot that day.
They knew they had to do something fast.
“In my mind, it was life or death. So, for me, it was a no-brainer,” said police officer Ben Shriver.
They ran up to the man and grabbed his arm, at which point he let go.
three @slcpd He was awarded a Lifesaving Medal for helping a man in a mental crisis. He was hanging on the side of the parking lot, threatening to let go. Officers say this is just one example of calls that occur almost every day.This exclusive body camera video is @KSL5TV At six o’clock. pic.twitter.com/KpilKK6FBj
— Alex Cabrero (@KSL_AlexCabrero) March 2, 2024
“If you’ve ever had to support 200 pounds of dead weight, that’s very difficult,” Prince said.
It took all three officers to pull him out, but they did it.
“We could have used Superman’s powers from anywhere and driven him back from the cliff, but it was such a close call,” Prince said.
The man had mental health issues.
It’s not necessarily the parking lot, but police say mental health calls with concerns of suicide have become almost common.
“Incidents like this happen thousands of times a year, so it becomes kind of routine,” Schreiber said. “It’s a bad word to use, but it says, ‘That’s what we do.'”
Even if it feels routine, Shriver said no one can just let someone die on any phone call.
“Not at all. No, no,” he said. “The main reason I became a police officer was to help people, and it was the most intuitive way I could help someone.”
board member Ben Shriver, Dalton Hatch, Bridger Prince He received a medal from the Salt Lake City Police Department for stopping a man who was attempting to jump from a parking lot.
Just a few weeks ago, officers Prince, Shriver and Dalton Hatch were awarded the Medal of Honor for saving the man’s life.
But the best prize, they say, was the recognition that they had made a difference.
“You feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, like you’ve actually affected change,” Prince said. “Again, a lot of people become police officers because they want to affect change. I feel like we did that that day.”
