Officers made the difference in potential suicide attempt
Two Gilmer County deputies were recently recognized for their lifesaving actions in a situation that could’ve easily ended in tragedy.
In August, Lt. Mark Patrick and Sgt. Josh Perigo responded to a possible suicide call.
According to a Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) report, the 911 call stated that a man had texted a friend saying “I’m smoking my last cigarette. I’ll be brain dead by the time you see this.”
After arriving at the home in the Old Highway 5 area, the two officers found a locked door.
“Luckily, there was a ladder out toward the back yard,” said Patrick. “I grabbed it and was able to climb up and shine my light and see in.”
Inside the house, he saw a man hanging from a rope.
“(The situation) was pretty recent judging from the information we’d gotten from dispatch and the way the call came in.
Dealing with those experiences before, I thought we might have a chance,” said Patrick.
The officers were able to pry their way inside and promptly cut the rope from which the man, still alive, was hanging. CPR was used to keep him breathing until an ambulance arrived.
The man, who’d started breathing on his own by this time, was airlifted to a regional hospital for treatment, according to the GCSO.
“They gave us a pretty good heads up of what was going on, so it was one of those things where you had to act fast. Of course, with every type of call like this, we need to get to it as quickly as possible and do what we can,” said Perigo.
The two deputies were commended for their quick thinking and actions by Sheriff Stacy Nicholson in a Sept. 16 ceremony at the courthouse. Both Lt. Patrick and Sgt. Perigo received GCSO Lifesaving Award medals from the sheriff.
“As an agency, we can and do provide our deputies with all the training we can, but sometimes it comes down to heart and brains to utilize that training,” said Nicholson. “In this case, Lt. Patrick and Sgt. Perigo, acting on experience and heart, employed that training and saved a young man’s life. We honor them for their job well done.”
Patrick, who’s been with the sheriff’s office for 16 years and Perigo, a 7-year GCSO employee, stressed that, although they certainly do appreciate the awards, they were just doing their jobs that day.
“It is nice to be recognized, but it’s not that we do it for the recognition,” said Patrick.
This type of call is not a frequent occurrence for the officers, but Patrick did respond to a very similar call about three years ago.
A man had also hung himself then, and GCSO officers were able to arrive in time to cut him down. He also lived, Patrick noted.
“I don’t know why I get put in these situations. Only the man upstairs knows,” Patrick said.
The name of the man in the August incident is not being released, but Perigo said he has been able to talk with the man’s mother, who was appreciative for what the deputies did.
“She was incredibly thankful and very emotional about it. She couldn’t say thanks enough was basically the context of the conversation,” said Perigo. “I’m glad we did it, (and) it worked out great in the end. I wish we could’ve had a conversation with him before it got to this point, but, since it did, this is the best outcome we could have.”