The highway was closed for seven hours while authorities tried to get him down.
Police, fire and rescue personnel were able to get a suicidal man off of a bridge over westbound Interstate 70 in Braddock Heights early Monday morning. The individual was taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital for an evaluation.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office says it received at a call at around 2:07 AM for an individual standing on a ledge from the Ridge Road bridge over I-70. Investigators say he climbed over the fence.
Corporal Amanda Ensor says Corporal Timothy Grove, a crisis negotiator, maintained contact and was in communication with the man for seven hours. The FBI’s Crisis Negotiating Team also arrived at the scene to communicate with the man.
The Sheriff’s Office says the man became fatigued, which allowed deputies to pass a rope through the fence and secure him. The SWAT Team and Department of Fire and Rescue Services personnel cut the fence and took the suicidal individual into custody.
Corporal Ensor says the seven-hour event was very tense. “Due to the fact that we were unaware whether he had a weapon, and what his intentions were at the time, aside from him being suicidal, and the fact that we had to be able to gain access to him over an extremely large fence,” she said.
“There’s a great distance if he had fallen from the other side. So we had to maintain the safety of the individual as well as our units, and everyone there who was assisting with the incident,” says Corporal Ensor.
I-70 westbound in that area near Braddock Heights was closed for several hours while authorities tried to rescue the man from the bridge.
The individual’s name is not being released, but Corporal Ensor says he’s a 33-year-old Frederick man.
In addition to the Sheriff’s Office, Department of Fire and Rescue Services and the FBI Crisis Negotiating Team, the Maryland State Police and the State Highway Administration also helped to bring this incident to a successful conclusion, according to Corporal Ensor.