Stuart Police save man from bridge

Sunday June 19 at approximately 11:47 p.m. Stuart police officers were dispatched to a hotel in the 200 Block of SE 7th Street on the report of a suicidal guest. While on scene, officers learned that the male guest had left the hotel prior to their arrival and was in the area on foot.

At approximately 1:12 a.m. officers located the man on the S. Division overpass of Interstate 80 at the 93-milemarker. The man, who is deaf, was standing on the outside ledge of the bridge with a rope tied at one end to the bridge and the other around his neck. Traffic on the bridge and the interstate below was closed for approximately 20 minutes while officers talked to the man and eventually convinced him to remove the rope and step back onto the bridge. The man, who was uninjured, was transported by Stuart Police to Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines for psychiatric care.

Stuart Police Department was assisted by deputies with the Adair and Guthrie County Sheriff’s Departments and Stuart Rescue.