A South Portland Police crisis negotiator on Wednesday was successfully able to safely de-escalate a situation involving a 20-year-old South Portland man who reportedly threatened to commit “suicide by cop.”
According to South Portland Police, at about 2 p.m. on Wednesday officers responded to an address in South Portland to check on the well-being of a 20-year-old male who had threatened to harm himself.
Police say that the man reportedly made threats to commit “suicide by cop.”
A license plate number and description of the vehicle the man would be operating was put out by police, and a South Portland officer later observed a young man operating a vehicle that matched the description.
The officer initiated a stop of the vehicle in the area of Market Street, after which the vehicle fled a short distance and stopped again on Broadway in front of the South Portland Public Library’s main branch.
The man reportedly refused officers’ commands to exit the vehicle, but called his father on his personal cell phone from inside the vehicle.
Police say officers subsequently spoke with the father, who together managed to convinced the man to accept a phone call from one of the South Portland Police Department’s crisis negotiators.
According to police, the crisis negotiator successfully helped officers de-escalated the the situation to bring it to a safe resolution.
The 20-year-old was safely taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for evaluation.
Police closed roads in the vicinity of the Broadway and Cottage Road intersection during the police action.
The department also notified the Holy Cross School, Brown School, and South Portland Library of the action — all of which are in the immediate vicinity of where the incident occurred — and instructed the schools to bring any students who were outside indoors.
The South Portland Schools superintendent was also notified by police. Roads were reopened when the scene was safe shortly before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
