CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Police officer stopped suicide attempt last week, but incidents common in Tri-State

Evansville Courier & Press (IN) - 2/4/2016

Feb. 03--A Monday Facebook post from the Evansville Police Department about an officer successfully intervening to prevent a suicide last week has garnered several hundred likes and expressions of gratitude on the social media website.

Suicide attempt stopped by an EPD Officer who was checking a closed business during her routine patrol:In the early...

Posted by Evansville Police Department on Monday, February 1, 2016

It also shined a light on a fact that does not get a lot of publicity, here or anywhere else: suicides are a common occurrence.

The Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office worked 42 official suicides in 2015. About 75 percent of the incidents originated in the county, while the remaining cases consisted of people who attempted suicide in another county but died at an Evansville hospital.

In 2014, the office worked 50 suicides. Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Lockyear said the county has been averaging between 40-50 such deaths the last few years. There have already been five cases so far in 2016.

"They're something that we deal with on a daily basis here in the office, because of not only the day of the event, but because of the pain and suffering that the family members are dealing with," Lockyear said.

That pain, he said, often lasts years. In fact, people known as "survivors of suicide" -- family and friends of the victim -- are at an elevated risk of committing suicide themselves.

The 2016 figure would have likely been one more if officer Kathy Winters hadn't spotted a man in a truck on the morning of Jan. 28 while she was on patrol. According to the police department, Winters saw that a hose going into the vehicle's windows was connected to both of the truck's exhaust pipes. The man was inside and was talking on the phone to a family member when Winters approached him, police officials said.

Winters, a 25-year-veteran of the force, convinced the man to turn off the truck and talk with her. The man, who was not identified by authorities, was taken to the hospital for a mental evaluation, police said.

There is a local Suicide Prevention Coalition that meets once a month. That group includes Lockyear, medical and mental health professionals, military veteran advocates and law enforcement officials. In 2015, 11 of the suicides consisted of someone who had served in the military, according to coroner's office statistics.

"They are always actively looking for new ways (and) doing everything that they can to combat (suicide deaths). We don't know how many people didn't take their own life because they were reached," Lockyear said. "We know the numbers of those that we failed."

For those people considering harming themselves, there are resources available. Evansville-based Southwestern Behavioral Inc., has a suicide prevention phone line -- 812-422-1100. That line is connected to a licensed therapist 24 hours a day. It is for both people contemplating suicide and family and friends who believe someone close to them is considering harming themselves.

The National Suicide Hotline can also be reached at 1-800-273-8255.

Oftentimes, a person who dies from suicide has talked about it before with a family or friend. According to the coroner's office, that was the case in 19 of the 42 incidents in 2015, and in about half of the 2014 suicides. Of the 92 deaths over the last two years, 26 of the victims had attempted to kill themselves at least once before.

___

(c)2016 the Evansville Courier & Press (Evansville, Ind.)

Visit the Evansville Courier & Press (Evansville, Ind.) at www.courierpress.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.