Police Tackle Suicidal Teen Who Was Throwing Herself Under Approaching Train [Video]

On Monday the Waukegan police released a body camera footage which showed an officer saving a teen from taking her own life by jumping in front of a moving train.

The footage was uploaded on the Facebook page of the Waukegan Police Department:

According to Joe Florip, spokesman for the Waukegan Police Department, the authorities received a call at around 1:40 a.m. local time (2:40 a.m. EST) on Friday, from a woman who claimed that she could not reach her sister and feared that the latter was going to kill herself.

After “pinging” the cell phone of the missing teen, the police located the individual in the area of South Avenue, Illinois. When Waukegan officers arrived at the scene, where a train could be seen traveling northbound on the tracks approaching South Avenue, no one was initially spotted.

However, when Officer Christopher Harris, on whose body cam the footage was recorded, started scanning the area, a woman could be seen coming out from behind a railroad mechanical shed, as the crossing gates were activated and walking toward the approaching train. When the officer yelled out to her to stop, the individual did not heed direct orders of the police and proceeded to rush toward the tracks.

“The woman disobeyed Officer Christopher Harris’ commands to, ‘Come here, come here,’ and appeared to start running toward the train tracks,” Florip said, Chicago Tribune reported. That is when the officer ran toward the teen and bodily tackled her in order to stop her. No one was injured in the incident and the teenage girl, whose name was not revealed, was transported to a hospital in the area for psychological evaluation.

"I am extremely proud of these officers who, through their heroic actions, saved the life of a young woman," Waukegan Police Chief Wayne Walles said. "I am just as proud of our dispatch professionals who utilized their resources to locate the area of where this young woman was, and directed the responding officers to find her."

Walles said that he hoped that the department had decided to release the footage of the incident not only to show the bravery of their officers but also to encourage people suffering from depression or suicidal instincts to seek assistance.

“We thought this might be a huge catalyst for people who need help to get some help,” he said. “That’s why we included the suicide hotline number in the press release.”

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.