Would-Be Jumper Talked Down from Hart Building 7th Floor
posted 5:28 am Tue July 22, 2008 - WASHINGTON
The Capitol Police crisis response team spent several hours yesterday talking a suicidal man down from the seventh floor of the Hart Senate Office Building's atrium. According to U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider, the man was taken into custody early this morning; D.C. Fire and EMS Services reported that the man came down at 2 a.m.
The team brought in a translator to communicate with the man, who spoke primarily Mandarin.
The man climbed on top of a railing on the seventh floor around 5:45 p.m. Monday night.
The incident does not seem to have disrupted any Senate business, though Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer issued a message to those working in the building to avoid interference with the police's efforts, requesting that those with offices on the atrium close their curtains and refrain from watching the incident or taking pictures.
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http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0708/537535.htmlAlso:
Hart Office Building standoff ends without bloodshed
By Jordy Yager
Posted: 07/22/08 04:48 AM
United States Capitol Police early Tuesday resolved a situation in the Hart Senate Office Building atrium area, where a man had been threatening for hours to plunge himself from the seventh floor.
The unidentified man turned himself over to Capitol Police at approximately 2:00 am, according to police sources familiar with the event.
For more than eight hours, the man had stood about 50 feet above the ground on the outside ledge of the glass wall overlooking the building’s atrium as negotiators continued to speak with him through a translator in Mandarin Chinese, according to Capitol Police. He had climbed across the railing at about 5:45 pm on Monday.
“The U.S. Capitol Police responded to this event, established communications with the individual, and after several hours of deliberate negotiations, convinced him to return to safety on the correct side of the railing,” Capitol Police spokeswoman Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail circulated after 3:00 am.
More:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/hart-office-building-standoff-ends-without-bloodshed-2008-07-22.html