Officer recognized for life-saving effort

By KTBS Staff

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    MINDEN, Louisiana (KTBS) — A Minden police officer is being recognized for saving the life of a suicidal man who was threatening to jump from a bridge overpass Wednesday night.

According to a social media post by the Minden Police Association, Lt. Tokia Whiting-Harrison calmly talked the man away from the bridge’s ledge so that he could receive medical care.

Minden police were called to the U.S. Highway 371 overpass at Interstate 20 around 11 p.m. Sgt. Hackett and Officer Smith arrived to find a man straddling the concrete barrier and yelling he was going to kill himself.

While other officers closed I-20, Hackett and Smith convinced the man to put one leg back over the barrier. But he refused to move any more until he talked to Whiting-Harrison.

She was off-duty, but arrived on the scene in less than 10 minutes and talked the man to safety.

“Lt. Whiting-Harrison is well known and admired school resource officer. She regularly goes above and beyond the call of duty for the citizens of Minden. In doing so, she saved a man’s life,” the post states.

This is the second time this month area law enforcement officers have been pivotal in preventing suicide death. On June 1, two Bossier City police officers and a Good Samaritan pulled a woman to safety after she stepped over the ledge of the Shreveport-Barksdale Highway Bridge.

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