Tarrytown Police Save Suicidal Man on Train Tracks

Quick thinking Tarrytown police prevented a man from committing suicide at the Tarrytown Metro North station Friday night. 

At 7:25 p.m., policed received numerous 911 calls from civilians at the station reporting that an emotionally disturbed man had entered on to the train tracks. The man then began to walk north down the center of the rails in an apparent suicide attempt.

Tarrytown police officer Michael McGee and an off-duty Greenburgh police sergeant, John Schlusser, were first on the scene and jumped on to the train tracks following the man north as about 30 to 40 civilians tried to call the man away from danger. 

"It was a very tense situation there for a few minutes," Tarrytown Sgt. John Barbelet said. "It's very risky to go out on those tracks."

Barbelet and officer Dennis Smith drove north on the tracks and headed off the man, while at Tarrytown police headquarters, officer Jose Ojito quickly called MTA officials, who promptly cut the high-voltage electrical currents running through the rails. 

Rush-hour trains were halted during the ordeal, and a Westchester County police helicopter was also called in to oversee the situation from above.

As McGee and Schlusser approached from the south, and Barbelet and Smith approached from the north, they were able to restrain the man and take him safely off of the tracks and out of danger. Police said the 48-year-old Sleepy Hollow resident was despondent over personal issues. 

The man was handed over to MTA police and was then taken by the Tarrytown Volunteer Ambulance Corps to Westchester Medical Center for further psychiatric evaluation.

No one was injured during the standoff, which is a credit to the quick actions of the Tarrytown police despite the danger to their own lives. 

"They saved that man's life tonight," Barbelet said.