Community Police & Fire Transportation

Police arrest suicidal man who delayed traffic on Narrows Bridge

Police arrested a 26-year-old University Place man on suspicion of assault following an incident that blocked traffic on the eastbound Narrows Bridge for four hours late Saturday, July 18.

The man was experiencing an apparent mental health crisis and threatened suicide. But after police told him they intended to detain him under the state Involuntary Treatment Act, he pointed a firearm at them, according to charging documents. 

The incident began around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, when officers from the Washington State Patrol, Tacoma Police Department and Gig Harbor Police Department responded to a report of a suicidal subject approaching the eastbound Narrows Bridge. 

An image taken from a Washington Department of Transportation traffic camera shows the scene on the approach to the eastbound Narrows Bridge on July 18.

Officers blocked traffic on the bridge and attempted to negotiate with the 26-year-old. When they told him they would take him into custody, however, he produced a firearm. 

The suspect briefly pointed the gun at officers before “racking it” and pointing it at his temple. 

The man remained seated on the sidewalk, with the gun pointed at his head, for “several hours,” according to documents filed in Pierce County Superior Court. Negotiators eventually convinced him to drop the weapon, and a SWAT team arrested him at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

Pierce County prosecutors charged the man with second degree assault of a police officer for pointing the gun. They also charged him with resisting arrest and unlawful possession of a firearm. 

He remained in the Pierce County Jail as of Monday, July 20.