SOUTH PORTLAND – A man threatening suicide led police to shut down a South Portland street Thursday afternoon, backing up traffic near the exit 3 on-ramp.

According to a press release, at approximately 3:45 p.m., the South Portland Police Department was called to the Redbank neighborhood for a 32-year-old man threatening suicide. The man had doused himself in gasoline and was in possession of a lighter. The caller also thought he may have a knife.

As officers arrived on scene, the man fled on foot. He was chased until he stopped on in the middle of the dam on Clark’s Pond, adjacent to Westbrook Street near the exit 3 off-ramp from I-295. Officers tried to speak with the male but he was unresponsive, except to say he was going to jump off the dam. The police department contacted Cumberland County Crisis. One of their mental health crisis workers responded to the scene.

After a lengthy conversation with the crisis worker was able to de-escalate the male, who willingly came off the dam and was transported to Maine Medical Center for a mental health evaluation. The male was, in fact, covered in gasoline, but did not have lighter or knife at the time police took him into custody.

Assisting SPPD were members of the South Portland Fire Department, Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough police departments, and the Maine State Police. Westbrook Street was shut down during the incident from Broadway to Western Avenue, causing traffic delays during the afternoon commute.

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