Crime & Safety
Woman Threatening to Jump from Building is Rescued
Eviction action allegedly prompts the woman's desperate act. She is rescued safely and taken to a hospital.
A 43-year-old woman with a history of emotional problems, distraught over eviction action taken by her landlord, was rescued safely after spending nearly three hours threatening to jump from the roof of the three-story building at 31 Elm Street where she lived.
The incident began at 8 p.m., when the woman climbed out on the roof of the building and unfurled an apparently handwritten banner that, according to witnesses, read:
"As of 2 p.m., me, my son and my cat are homeless, thanks to my heartless landlord."
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The woman eventually was talked down from the roof by five police officers at about 10 p.m. Immediately after, she was whisked into an ambulance idling at the back of the building to be taken to a hospital for evaluation.
According to multiple witnesses, the woman, whose name has not been made available, lived in the building at the corner of Elm and Quimby streets, which also houses a barbershop. She lived there with her adult son and their cat.
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Witnesses said that the landlord started moving the woman's belongings from her apartment early Friday afternoon in an attempt to evict her from the building. Moving trucks were seen in front of the building at that time.
As the standoff developed, police, fire and emergency medical personnel swarmed the area, inflating a large air mattress in front of the building, to allow her to land safely in case she jumped or lost her footing on the roof. A crowd of about 200 bystanders gathered as the dramatic scene unfolded.
"The potential for the threat was possibly imminent," said Captain David Wayman of the Westfield Police Department, who added that Union County police officers and a county prosecutor aided WPD officers in talking the woman into surrendering.
"It was a great cooperative effort between the Westfield police, the county police and the county prosecutor," he said.
As of 11 p.m., the woman's identity has not been released
Editor's Note: Wesfield Patch contributors Joseph Leopold and Vadim Rud contributed to this report.
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