Batavia police ‘superbly’ handle suicidal man; honored by city

BATAVIA – Police officers protect people from crime. And, sometimes, they have to protect people from themselves.

That was the case late last year when five Batavia police officers found themselves dealing with an armed man who expressed suicidal intentions. In the end, the officers were able to counter any intention of suicide, and get him psychiatric help, officials reported.

“Only with restraint, rapport and good police work was this potential tragedy avoided,” Batavia Police Chief Gary Schira said.

The five officers were honored at a recent Batavia City Council meeting, when they each were presented with a lifesaving award from the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.
They included Watch Commander Eric Blowers and Officers Mark Skorup, Justin Howe, Chris Potthoff and Erika Stover.

The group was nominated for the award by Schira, who in his letter to the association wrote that they had performed “superbly.”

Making the presentation was Batavia resident James Black, who is chief of the Crystal Lake Police Department and a vice president of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

Late on the night of Dec. 14, 2015, Blowers, Howe and Stover were dispatched to a Batavia residence on a report of a despondent and suicidal man, Schira said. The man denied he intended suicide, and a gun in his home was determined to be a BB gun. Howe quickly developed a good rapport with the man, Schira said.

Medics checked out the man, and Howe contacted the man’s parents. The scene was cleared. But about 45 minutes later, the man’s parents called police to say that he was now expressing specific suicidal thoughts, and police returned to the scene only to find that the man was no longer home.

However, he soon reappeared in the area in his automobile, and by this time police had been informed by the man’s father that he was armed with a knife. After a lengthy conversation with the man, he was persuaded to exit his vehicle with his hands up. He indeed had a knife in his possession.

“Because of the quick and decisive actions of these officers, I am happy to say that this serious and possibly deadly situation was resolved peacefully and without incident,” Schira said.