Police were involved in a frantic one-hour search late last night for an Amherst College student who had called an ex-girlfriend in Pittsfield, sounding drunk and making suicidal statements. Amherst College police confirmed he left behind a "goodbye note" in his room.
APD and Amherst College PD looking for suicidal student. Possibly intoxicated. On open phone line with x-girlfriend, but not talking.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) March 18, 2015
After "pinging" his phone it was determined he was located within a mile of Stanley Street, so Amherst police sent cruisers to strategic locations within the perimeter with their sirens blaring so see if his open phone line picked up the noise, thus giving better indication of his location.The reporting party said she could hear running water and then, ominously, about an hour into the drama said she could hear "moaning and vomiting."
Temperatures last night
He was located semi-conscious on the bike path about a half mile east of the Amherst College tennis courts, with no shirt on, suffering from possible hypothermia and with superficial wounds from a broken bottle.
Amherst Fire Department, with an extra firefighter on board, transported him to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
Just another example of outstanding co-operation between Amherst College PD, Amherst and State police.
And the urgent need for the state to upgrade the emergency 911 system for GPS location, which would have instantly provided authorities with his whereabouts within ten feet rather than a mile.
Amherst College student found on rail trial intoxicated, without shirt, possibly hypothermic. PD on scene. AFD enroute.
— Larry Kelley (@amherstac) March 18, 2015
10 comments:
I want to commend all involved for their outstanding work. They prevented a terrible tragedy from happening.
Luck of the Irish was with us all.
I almost never get unnerved listening to response calls these days.
But last night I started to sweat.
Please take this blog post down, it is offensive and in bad taste. This is personal, the level of detail is inappropriate and the event should not be used to sell blog ads.
I hope the family reaches out to you so you can understand this.
It crosses the line from "personal" to "public" when so many first responders become involved.
This post is a bit tawdry, in bad taste, insensitive to the people involved and borders on yellow journalism. It is exactly why I read this blog. Please post more articles like this!
In these days of finding fault with police constantly, it is good to remind folks how valuable they really are. Thanks APD & AFD for all you do.
Thanks for writing this story. Suicide needs to be talked about. Mental health needs to be talked about. I have no clue who this person is and so therefore I don't find it offensive.
I also like the story as is highlights mutual aid and excellent response times.
Ironically enough I kinda half heartedly live tweeted the AFD rescue Monday night out at the Quabbin.
But never bothered to write it up here on the blog because it didn't think it quite rose to the level of being overly newsworthy.
So it's kind of surprising that both the Gazette and MassLive went nuts over the story, with both of them even printing the names of the three hikers.
1:32 PM Ditto
Huge kudos to AFD, APD, et all! Without them, we would be lost and they should have the funding they need!
Not that much detail really. Names withheld, after all. You offend too easily.
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