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Officers Talk Suicidal Man From Palisades Cliffs In Alpine

ALPINE, N.J. -- Negotiators on Wednesday afternoon talked a distraught man from jumping from the Palisades at the State Line Lookout in Alpine.

The man stood on the other side of the barrier rocks.

The man stood on the other side of the barrier rocks.

Photo Credit: CLIFFVIEW PILOT

"He was extremely respectful. He apologized to the officers," one of the emergency responders told Daily Voice.

As Daily Voice originally reported Wednesday night, the 56-year-old Mount Kisco, N.Y. man arrived during the cold morning and wandered around before a maintenance worker asked him what he was up to.

"I'm killing myself," he told the worker.

Around the same time, Palisade Interstate Parkway Police received a call from the man's wife, Police Chief Michael Coppola said Thursday morning.

Lt. Roman Galloza, Detective Jeffrey Kimbro and Officers Jeffrey Lamboy and Timothy Conboy "found him pacing vigorously by the cliff's edge near Old Route 9W," Coppola said.

They approached him "while additional officers secured the site," the chief said.

The man told them that "he planned on jumping from the cliff due to personal troubles," he said.

Officers got him talking and called for a hostage negotiator from the Bergen County Sheriff's Office.

The negotiator arrived soon after and kept the conversation going.

Officers couldn't grab the man.

"He would have pulled them down with him," one responder told Daily Voice.

After nearly two hours, the man agreed to go to PIP police headquarters, where his wife was waiting.

He was later taken to Bergen Regional Medical Center for evaluation, Coppola said.

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