RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, On June 11, 2018, Chicago Police Department Commander Marc Buslik, Star #56, and Police Officer Catherine ("Kate") Sanchez, Star #11800, the 19th District's Mental Health Resource Officer, were reviewing the District's weekly case reports to identify mental health related incidents, when they received a radio report of a 28-year-old male threatening suicide at Montrose Avenue Harbor. The man's exact location was not known, but his description was provided; and
WHEREAS, Rushing to the Harbor in an effort to thwart this young man's attempt to end his own life, Commander Buslik and Officer Sanchez systematically searched the area until they located the man standing on the edge of the Harbor's rocks, where he was talking to a woman and threatening to kill himself by jumping into Lake Michigan's treacherous waters; and
WHEREAS, Drawing on their Crisis Intervention Team and Mental Health First Aid training, Commander Buslik and Officer Sanchez approached the couple and skillfully engaged the man in conversation about why he was threatening suicide in the hope of dissuading him from following through with his grim plan; and
WHEREAS, The conversation revealed that the woman standing with the man was his ex-girlfriend, who had recently ended their relationship. Despondent over the break-up, the man left a suicide note for the woman at their shared apartment. Fortunately, she found the note and called 9-1-1, initiating the chain of events that led Commander Buslik and Police Officer Sanchez to the scene of this ,potentially tragic event; and
WHEREAS, Working in tandem to reason with the man, while also calming the visibly upset woman, Commander Buslik and Officer Sanchez saw that the man became increasingly agitated when other police units arrived at the scene to assist. To distract him, they began talking to him about his work at a suburban bank, and eventually persuaded him to seek professional help at Illinois Masonic Hospital, the 19th Police Dist...
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