A person idenitifed by Bluffton police as a potential suicidal risk was taken by Bluffton EMS to St. Rita's Medical Center for a psychological evaluation as a result of self-inflicted injuries.
The occurrence took place on Tuesday, June 18. Ryan Burkholder, Bluffton police chief provide the following information to the Icon:
"Police offiers and Allen County sheriff deputies responded to the area of the Bluffton University Nature Preserve for a suicidal subject.
"Upon arrival, officers observed a significant amount of blood near the swinging bridge. At this point an ACSO K9 was used to track the subject's whereabouts. After an exhausting track through thick vegetation, the track was called off.
"A short time later, a sheriff's deputy observed the subject running through an overgrown field in the back of the nature preserve where the subject then entered the woods.
"Bluffton police K9 Kato was in the area and went out to track the suspect's whereabouts. After a track through thick vegetation and standing water, K9 Kato tracked to an area where it located the subject, who was lying on the ground behind a tree.
"K9 Kato and its handler assisted Allen County sheriff's deputies while they made contact with the subject, who was eventually escorted from the woods and transferred to the EMS and transported to St. Rita's Medical Center."
