CHP Officers Talk Suicidal Man Down From Berkeley Overpass

Officers with the California Highway Patrol’s Oakland Division talked a man out of jumping into traffic from a busy highway overpass this morning in Berkeley, according to the CHP.

The incident was reported on Interstate Highway 80 at the University Avenue over-crossing around 11:15 a.m., according to Officer Sean Wilkenfeld.

“We got multiple calls of a man standing on the outside that looked like he was going to jump,” Wilkenfeld said.

Officers were dispatched to the scene, and they successfully talked him down. He was subsequently transported to a medical facility for a psychological evaluation, according to Wilkenfeld.

This is the third such instance involving a potentially suicidal subject on a freeway overpass, Wilkenfeld said, and it’s something they’ve trained for. “We do have an advanced level of training for mental illness and suicidal subjects, and that’s within the last two years,” Wilkenfeld said.

--Bay City News