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Disaster was averted on the shoulder of a Maryland highway when members of the Hagerstown Police Department risked their own lives to come to the aid of a man suffering from a mental health crisis who wanted to wander into traffic.
On Monday, July 10, officers were called to the 1900 block of Dual Highway, where there was a man shouting that he was going to jump into the roadway.
First on the scene was Master Police Officer Biden, who was flagged by a Good Samaritan that directed him to the shoulder of I-70 underneath the Route 40 overpass, where a man continually kept trying to walk into the roadway.
The officer was able to track down the man in crisis, and on video could be seen having to forcibly and repeatedly push him away from oncoming traffic to ensure his safety until he could calm him down and place him in handcuffs.
In body-cam video released by the department, the man can be seen attempting to evade the officer, even making it through several lanes of traffic before he could be subdued.
Biden then was able to apprehend the man and get him the help needed to assist his mental crisis.
According to police, the Hagerstown Fire Department also aided in the rescue by blocking the entrance ramp to the interstate to reduce traffic as the officer came to the man’s rescue.
“In addition, an unknown tractor-trailer driver stopped his truck in the lane closest to Officer Biden and the man struggling in order to slow traffic,” a police spokesperson said. "Officer Biden had to react on his own, as there was no time to wait for backup while other officers and Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies were in route to assist.”
A 16-year veteran of the Hagerstown Police Department assigned to the Patrol Division, Biden was credited for saving the man’s life, and possibly others by his courageous save.
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