MATTAKEESE WHARF: Officers arrived at critical moment to save...

BARNSTABLE – Response time matters when police try to help people in crisis. Seconds often mean the difference between life and death. Police arrived just in the nick of time last evening to save a young man’s life. Had they arrived any later, things would have been gravely different.

At about 8pm last evening, Brown University Police contacted the Barnstable Police Department regarding one of their students attempting to end his own life. They had reason to believe the young man was in the area of Barnstable Village driving a black BMW with New York plates.

Brown University Police had spoken with the young man and learned he was near the water and could see boats nearby. They also told Barnstable Officers the student had just lit charcoal placed in a bowl in the back seat of his BMW. He was trying to asphyxiate on the fumes.

A Barnstable Police detective went to work trying to locate the young man’s cell phone signals. He was able to narrow the student’s location to the general area surrounding a cell phone tower next to the Barnstable Court Complex on Main Street in Barnstable Village. The location was not exact, but it gave patrol officers something to work with.

Based on the information, Barnstable Patrol Officers saturated the area and focused their grid search on areas near the waterfront.

A short time into search, Barnstable Police Lieutenant Michael Clark spotted a black BMW parked between boats stored in a parking area at Mattakeese Wharf. Clark then noticed the unconscious student reclined in the driver’s seat with the car filled with smoke.

Patrolman Dennis Stampfl arrived and the two officers broke the passenger side window to gain access to the victim. They pulled the victim out into the cold fresh air and he slowly began to breathe again on his own.

Barnstable rescue medics arrived and attached an oxygen monitor to the patient. The monitor read 20 out of a possible 100, the lowest they have ever seen it on a person that was still alive.

Police had just saved the young student’s life, giving him a second chance to get help and work through his current crisis.

Sources stated the student had been serious about ending his life. And to complicate matters he had been drinking wine and university police only could provide vague information on his vehicle’s description and whereabouts.

Police officers are confronted with the gravest emergencies on a daily basis and things don’t always work out for the people they are trying to help. Which is why police are truly grateful whenever they can give someone a second chance…

The following video highlights the scene right after the patient was transported to CCH… [Press play… select HD in the settings and enlarge player for best quality…]