Police Convince Suicidal Woman Not to Jump Off Colorado Street Bridge in 8-Hour Incident

A suicidal 34-year-old woman was talked back to safety after spending eight hours perched outside the railing on the Colorado Street Bridge by two specialized police teams Saturday.

Officers from the Pasadena Police Department’s Crisis Negotiation and Homeless Outreach-Psychiatric Evaluation teams were called to the 12:29 p.m. incident on the bridge high above South Arroyo Boulevard, and spent all afternoon and into the dark of the night working to convince the woman not to jump to her death.

Finally, at about 8:30 p.m., “she came back over [the railing] and is being taken to a San Gabriel Valley area hospital for care,” Lt John Mercado reported.

Traffic over the bridge and on a section of South Arroyo Boulevard below was diverted during the entire incident, police said.

Specialized Crisis Negotiation Team members undergo an initial 40 hours of focused crisis negotiators training, followed by mandatory quarterly meetings for every member of the team. Each team member is required to belong to the California Association of Hostage Negotiators. Officers also attend an annual convention which offers training and guest lecturers, said Pasadena Police spokesperson Lt. Vasken Gourdikian.

Last July, after a successful negotiation convinced a man not to jump, Gourdikian outlined the typical protocol for Colorado Street Bridge incidents, though he emphasized each case is very different:

“Whenever CNT is called out to a scene they respond with their full compliment, or as many from their team as possible,” he said. “Typically, the first responding officer tries to or establishes some dialogue with the distraught individual in an effort to talk him or her down. Once the CNT arrives, they attempt to introduce themselves into the scenario via dialogue and ultimately take over the incident.”

“The teams work in pairs as these incidents can take several hours to bring to a successful resolution. There are many moving parts: the primary negotiator and his or her partner, the dispatcher and their team who conduct intel on the individual to find out their identity, and sometimes we have members of the team with family members,” Gourdikian said.

After the similar earlier incident, Police Chief Sanchez pointed out the stress on officers of working outside in such a stressful, emotionally-charged situation.

“These incidents are not easy to deal with and it takes a lot of dedication and compassion to be able to operate under these types of circumstances,” Sanchez said.