Saturday 4 July 2015

M3 traffic: Police condemn drivers who 'taunted' suicidal woman threatening to jump from motorway bridge

Police have condemned drivers who taunted a woman threatening to commit suicide by jumping from a motorway bridge.
The incident on the M3 near Sunbury brought traffic to a standstill for more than two hours on Saturday.

Surrey Police were called to concerns for the safety of a woman on a pedestrian carriageway.
Specially-trained negotiators talked to the woman and she was eventually detained under the Mental Health Act.
But many drivers stuck on the motorway were frustrated at the delay which occurred as temperatures reached 24 degrees.
It is understood officers on the scene became aware of members of the public taunting the woman.
Sara Russell wrote on Twitter: “Surrey Police, can’t you rubber bullet the jumper on the M3/A316 and get the traffic moving? Or get net ready & charge her? Ridiculous."
Another Frankie Maicourt added: "tell her to get on with it. Bloody ruining everyone's weekend. Sat in this for an hour and a half now."
The Chief Constable of Surrey Police Lynne Owens became personally involved in a row over the incident.
Twitter user Richards Shears complained online that he was "not impressed" by the force's handling of the scene.
"kids animals and motorbikes on the closed section. Gotta be a better way. Not impressed regardless of circumstance," he wrote.
Ms Owens replied: "Understand that. If we could think of better we'd honestly take it. We know how irritating road closures are!"
Inspector Julie Hillman later added in a statment: "Having members of the public taunt somebody who is clearly in a distressed state as we did earlier today is completely unacceptable.
"I hope the public understand why it was necessary for us to close the road as doing helped save the woman’s life.
"I appreciate that being stuck in traffic is the last thing that people want to be doing, particularly on a weekend when the weather is hot, but on this occasion it was completely necessary to ensure officers saw this woman to safety."

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