MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Police and firefighters had to be called to the Mandeville Regional Hospital on Tuesday morning after a mentally-ill man climbed onto the top of a building at the medical facility and threatened to jump.

Chief executive officer at the hospital Alwyn Miller confirmed the incident which he said happened shortly after 7:00 am.

“A mentally challenged [man] went on top of the building and was threatening to jump. We contacted the police and the fire department. They along with our psychiatric team convinced him to come down, so he came down eventually unhurt,” said Miller.

“He has been taken in for treatment,” he added.

When asked how the man gained access to the top of the building, Miller explained that the man turned up to the Accident and Emergency department and soon after went to the back of the building.

He also said the man was not an inpatient at the time of the incident.

“He came to the A and E [where] they were dealing with an emergency, a motor vehicle accident, so he had to wait a little bit, so he proceeded to walk over to that side of the hospital,” he said.

“There is no predictability with psychiatric patients,” he added.

He said there is adequate security at the facility to monitor patients admitted to the psychiatric ward.

Kasey Williams