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Man threatens suicide
By jeanne starmack
girard
A man who wanted to jump off the Mosier Road overpass onto Interstate 80 on Tuesday said he was “fed up” and just wanted to be left alone.
Stephen West, 54, of Girard, was standing on the outside of the overpass fence above the highway’s westbound lanes, said Girard Police Capt. John Norman.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol immediately shut down the highway’s westbound lanes and eventually closed the eastbound lanes, Norman said.
Norman said he and several other officers went to the overpass about 12:15 p.m. after the department received several 911 calls about West. Norman and a Hubbard Township officer were the first to talk to him.
“He said he was tired,” Norman said. “He was fed up and wanted us to leave him alone.
“He gave no indication there was any one reason in particular,” Norman continued.
Norman said negotiators from the state patrol and from the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team took over talking to West.
It took about an hour to talk him into coming down, Norman said.
The Girard Fire Department had a ladder truck with a bucket, and West came down in it with negotiators, Norman said.
He was taken by ambulance to St. Elizabeth Health Center, the patrol said.