Police avert suicide jump (From Oxford Mail)

Police avert suicide jump

A police negotiator talked a man out of jumping from the top floor of the Westgate multi-storey car park in Oxford.

Police talk to the man sitting on the parapet

The officer coaxed down the man who spent two-and-a-half hours on the edge of the fifth floor of the city centre car park.

The man was sitting on the corner of the building when he was spotted by a woman, who alerted staff at about 12.20pm yesterday (February 20).

A car park attendant, who asked not to be named, said: "I went up there at first and saw he was upset about something.

"He was saying 'go away, go away' and said he didn't want to speak to anyone.

"He wouldn't even speak to the police who were trying to coax him down. He was talking to them, I think, but he wouldn't talk to anyone else. He didn't want anything to do with anyone."

Tim Prince, Thames Valley Police spokesman, said: "At 12.20pm, we got a report of a man on the side of the car park.

"He was sitting on the corner of the building, smoking a cigarette and drinking from a can. We arrived pretty quickly and cordoned off a nearby road." The two exit lanes alongside the car park were cordoned off, as the man was sitting on the corner of the building directly above the exit barriers.

Attendants directed traffic out of an alternative exit, on the ground floor of the council-run car park.

Mr Prince said: "We were trying to find out who the man was and our negotiator arrived at about 1.05pm. He was an inspector from our headquarters in Kidlington who engaged with him well."

Members of the public were stopped from going to the fifth floor of the car park and police officers were posted on the ground to stop onlookers from disrupting the situation.

One officer, who wouldn't give his name, said: "I am here stopping idiots from encouraging him to jump."

Mr Prince said the negotiator continued reasoning with the man, who has not been named, until 2.55pm, when he began to move away from the wall and on to the car park floor. He said: "Two officers arrived just after 3pm to take hold of him and he was seen shaking the hand of the negotiator before he was taken into a police car." He said the man was arrested as a matter of routine under the Mental Health Act. "In the case of an attempted suicide, we would arrest someone because we would be concerned for their welfare.

"He will have been taken and assessed by a police surgeon, then almost certainly have been taken to a hospital for further examination."

If you need emotional support, you can contact the Samaritans on 08457 909090.