Vernon RCMP help suicidal teen from rooftop early this morning

Vernon RCMP officers spent three hours throughout the night talking to a suicidal teen who had climbed to the rooftop of a downtown building.

According to a Vernon North Okanagan RCMP media release, police got the call at 3 a.m. May 4 that there was someone suffering a mental health crisis in the 2900-block of 28 Ave in Vernon.

Police turned off the power to the building and cordoned off the area.

An RCMP Crisis Negotiator then spoke to the teen for three hours to prevent her from harming herself.

At roughly 6 a.m. with help from Vernon Fire Rescue Services the teen was helped from the building and taken to hospital under the Mental Health Act.

"Thankfully, it was a good ending to an incredibly high-risk situation this morning," Vernon RCMP Sup. Shawna Baher said in the media release "The skills, training, and experience of our officers in helping people in crisis, ultimately prevented what could have been a very different outcome. It exemplifies the exceptional work and dedication we see every day from them and other first responders in our community. It highlights how prevalent mental health issues are in our community and why it’s so important that we continue to advocate for additional mental health resources (to) be in place and readily available to support and assist frontline responders at calls such as this."

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.