Police Find Suicidal Man Using Nothing But Dark, Blurry Photo

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) -- A man was threatening to kill himself and police were desperate to find him before he hurt himself. But the only clue they had to go on was a dark, grainy photo of some lights in the distance.

Agent Kaylee Monn with the Lakewood Police Department was on the call in the late part of last year. The man's family said the man had called to say goodbye -- and sent one last photo of the parking lot he was in.

"In cases involving suicidal people or welfare checks, time is really of the essence," Monn said in a video posted by the police department. "We want to try to get to them as quickly as we can to help them, prevent any potential injury they may cause to themselves or other people."

Monn and her colleagues studied the picture and recognized some landmarks.

"I asked a couple of my coworkers who were there on the call with me and looking through the picture we all kind of [worked] together and realized it was Forsberg park," Monn stated.

Monn, who is trained in Crisis Intervention Techniques, went to the park to search for the man.

"I went over there and I found this gentleman's car in the parking lot thankfully he hadn't hurt himself yet," Monn said. "I was able to talk to him and he was pretty clearly upset, he was crying."

Ultimately, Monn was able to talk him into going to the hospital to get help.

"If it wasn't for the picture we may have never found him," Monn said.

"It was a win for us as a department and definitely for his family because we didn't have to make any sad notifications that he had hurt himself or that we couldn't find him," she said. "Thankfully we found him just in time and saved a life."

In:
• Lakewood News
• Lakewood
• Lakewood Police Department