Marietta Police took a man into custody Thursday after pulling him from one of the Historic Harmar Bridge piers during an apparent suicide attempt.
Police received a report around 4 p.m. Thursday that a 62-year-old man had said he was going to jump off a bridge. The bridge was not specified, but because the individual was last seen walking along a railroad track in the Harmar area, Officer Mark Caldwell said he headed for the walking and railroad bridge connecting Harmar with downtown Marietta.
As he crossed the Putnam Bridge, Caldwell said he saw a man matching the description of the one he was looking for walking on the Harmar bridge walkway.
Caldwell said he approached the man from the west side of the bridge, while Officer Braden Wenzel crossed over from the east side.
When he spotted Wenzel, "the man climbed over the rail," Caldwell said. "He ended up jumping down onto the pier. He was laying flat on his stomach."
Caldwell then climbed over the rail.
"I just grabbed ahold of his feet without saying anything and drug him back a little bit," he said.
Caldwell then handcuffed the man and he, Wenzel and city firefighters who had arrived on the scene got him back onto the walking bridge.
The man offered no resistance, Caldwell said. Since he was lying still, the officer said he was not nervous about approaching him.
"That wasn't on my mind...only thing on my mind was getting him away from the edge," he said.
The man, whose name was not immediately available Thursday, was taken to Marietta Memorial Hospital for a mental evaluation. Caldwell said the only injuries the man appeared to have sustained were scrapes on his elbows after he dropped onto the pier.
Caldwell does not anticipate any charges being filed.
"This is a situation where he probably needs to talk to someone" and get some professional help, he said.
