The Minden Police Department received a call on June 16 at 11 pm reporting a suicidal man on the LA 371 overpass of I-20. The man was threatening to jump off the ledge. SGT Hackett and OFC Smith were the first to the scene. Other MPD Officers briefly closed I-20 East in order to prevent injury.
SGT Hackett and OFC Smith saw the suicidal man straddling the concrete barrier yelling that he wanted to kill himself. They were able to convince the man to pull one leg back over the barrier. However, the man refused to move any further until he talked to LT Tokia Whiting-Harrison. Officers called LT Harrison, who was off duty at the time. She arrived on scene in less than 10 minutes. She was able to calm the suicidal man down and convince him to move away from the edge. The suicidal man then received medical care.
LT Whiting-Harrison is a well known and admired School Resource Officer. She regularly goes above and beyond the call of duty for the citizens of Minden. In doing so, she saved a man’s life.
