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Paterson police called their Port Authority colleagues after getting a call from a friend who saw “alarming” Facebook posts from the distraught man, including a photo of the bridge and several suggestions of suicide, the authority’s Joseph Pentangelo told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Lt. Thomas Michaels and Sgt. Nadine Rhem (both in photo) immediately verified the Facebook posts, uploaded a photo of him from the page and distributed it among officers who then searched the bridge, he said.
They also in-boxed the man, urging him “to call police for help and other positive suggestions,” Pentangelo said.
Two hours later, he telephoned them.
“He said he was on a bus in the Paterson area,” Pentangelo said. “He then accepted their offier of medical assistance.”
After meeting them at an arranged destination, he voluntarily was taken to a local hospital, Pentangelo said.
PHOTO: Courtesy PORT AUTHORITY PD
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