A “mentally disturbed” man was prevented from committing suicide by Civil Defense officials on Wednesday after he had stood on a rooftop while also holding a knife. Police, who said that the individual had smashed up cars outside the building before his ascent to the roof, said that an inflatable mattress designed for the purpose was placed beneath the building to break his fall should he jump, while two officials tried to coax the man down. The two officers managed to approach and overcome the man and received minor injuries as they restrained him. A neighbor said that the individual had earlier tried to enter his house by force and smashed the doorbell and door before going downstairs and attacking cars outside. “I called the police,” the neighbor said, “and when they arrived he went up to the roof of the building before the Civil Defense went up and saved him.”
