71°
Nine Norwalk Police officers raced back to their headquarters early Thursday after a young woman walked into the lobby there and said she wanted to kill herself. The 28-year-old woman was carrying a black and silver pocket knife with a 3- to 4-inch blade when she made her threats to the desk sergeant at 1:10 a.m.
When officers arrived, the woman had returned to her Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot next to headquarters. Officers blocked her in with their patrol cars and yelled at her to stop. She did but refused to get out. Instead, she held the knife to her chest and said through the closed window that she wanted to die.
As she moved the knife over her wrist in a slashing movement officers tried to break the windows with their batons. After a few slams on the glass the woman rolled down the window and said, "Please don't break my windows."
She was upset and crying. "Just shoot me," she said. "Be done with it." Detective William Maloney, who is trained in hostage negotiation, talked with her as another officer, standing on the other side of the vehicle, noticed that the knife had slipped out of her hand and fallen to the floor. The officer entered the car through the now unlocked door and grabbed the knife. The woman was detained without further incident and taken to Norwalk Hospital on an emergency psychiatric hold.
Sgt. James Walsh, who indicated that police have dealt with the woman on multiple occasions, said that she had made slashing motions over her wrist but never made contact with her skin as she begged police to shoot her. "It was a cry for help," he said.
Follow The Daily Norwalk on Facebook.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
