BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Sheriff Bill Elfo says the Sheriff’s Office has experienced an increase in the frequency and severity of persons in mental health crisis.
Traffic on I-5 was stopped for nearly two hours on Friday as a man threatened to jump from the North Lake Samish overpass.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office reports the man was unresponsive to crisis negotiators and appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance.
Three truck drivers parked their rigs under the overpass so the man wouldn’t fall as far if he did jump, but deputies managed to take the man by surprise and pull him back, at which point they secured him and took him to the hospital.