Downtown/Fri May 18/8:21 pm: Officer Christman: "I responded to a report of a suicide attempt at Westlake Center. Information on the call stated the complainant/witness's friend (victim—black, male, 23) was trying to jump off the mall's upper-level balcony. While I was en route, the call was updated that mall security was now detaining the victim on the top balcony.
"Upon arrival, I looked up to the outside third-level balcony and observed a large group of people (mall security and others) lying on top of V in an effort to pin him to the ground. I responded to this location and contacted these individuals. I observed that V was extremely upset and crying. I bent down and placed my right hand on V's shoulder in an effort to calm him and ask if he was okay. V immediately began kicking his feet and rolling away from me, while screaming: 'Don't let him touch me.'
"Several of V's female friends, who were there with him, explained that V was afraid of other males and would be okay if they talked to him and didn't touch him. I then spoke with C/W, W2, W3, and W4. This was their account: V has made several previous suicide attempts, including one in which he intended to jump off the Aurora Bridge. V was released today at 1:00 p.m. after two weeks in a psychiatric hospital because of another suicide attempt where he tried to jump off the balcony at Westlake Center.
"The witnesses were across the street from the mall, in Westlake Park, when V again began talking of suicide. V pointed to the mall's outside third-floor balcony and said to them: 'That looks good, wouldn't it be fun to jump off there.' V then took off, running across the street toward the mall, while stripping off his coat. Witnesses chased after V in an effort to prevent him from jumping. V ran up the escalators, through the outside door, and onto the balcony, where he began to climb the railing. V was approximately halfway over the railing when mall security grabbed him and pulled him back over the balcony side. Multiple witnesses then piled on top of V and held him down.
"AMR Ambulance was called to the scene and transported V to HMC for mental-health evaluation."
Two things. Primo: One senses in this report that Officer Christman was a little hurt by the violent rejection of his show of sympathy, of care, of human understanding (placing his right hand on the young man's shoulder). Officer Christman was only to trying to be compassionate, but V's disgust made him look and feel like a creep: Don't touch me, you nasty old man. Don't put your hands on me. Secundo: Three floors are not 100 percent lethal. V could believably survive that fall and spend the rest of his life in pain, in a wheelchair, unable to move even a finger. If you're going to jump to your death, make sure the jump is lethal. You don't want to survive the fall; you want to go out for good. 
