CHP Officer Prevents Suicide On Rohnert Park Overpass

ROHNERT PARK - The California Highway Patrol said an officer saved a man from jumping from a U.S. Highway 101 overpass in Rohnert Park Sunday night.

CHP Officer Joe Gilbert saw the man climbing a rail and fence on the north sidewalk of the Rohnert Park Expressway over-crossing around 7:50 p.m., CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

The man told Gilbert he was going through difficult times and was thinking of jumping off the overpass, Sloat said.

The man said he tried to commit suicide before by jumping from a bridge, and he did not want to go with Gilbert to speak with a mental health professional, Sloat said.

Gilbert detained the man and took him to the Roadway Inn on Rohnert Park Expressway where he and another officer contacted the man's parents.

The parents told the officers their son suffered from depression and was prescribed medication from doctors at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, Sloat said.

Gilbert took the man to the Kaiser hospital where the man was placed on a 72-hour hold.

-Bay City News, image via Patch archives