The fiancée of a 27-year-old Detroit man may have saved his life Tuesday by being persistent in getting him the mental health help he needed and having him admitted to a local hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, the man could have easily lost his life before she could even get him to the hospital.
Around 9:00 Tuesday morning, the man began banging on the back door of the Detroit Police Department's 8th precinct on West McNichols near Grand River. And he did it while brandishing two handguns.
You can see through the back door, but an officer who was inside the building was unable to see the firearms in his hands and she motioned for him to go around to the front door.
The man set the guns down by the rear door and walked into the vestibule at the front door, but police say he was behaving erratically and they told him he could not enter until he calmed down.
While the man was in the vestibule, his fiancée was picking up the guns he placed on the ground and putting them back in their vehicle.
The two then left. And the woman was able to take the man to a nearby hospital where he was admitted for treatment for his mental health issues.
Around the same time, Detroit Police were piecing together what had happened. They reviewed surveillance video and they were able to obtain a license plate. Officers then went to the house where the vehicle was registered, and they found that vehicle and the woman seen on video picking up the guns.
The woman reportedly told police that her fiancé suffers from mental health issues and, after getting into a car accident recently, he stopped taking his medication and was becoming increasingly unstable.
She said she made sure the guns were not loaded, and she planned to turn the guns over to police herself, but once at the precinct, the man wanted to surrender his own firearms.
The woman said she was surprised that they didn't let him into the precinct, but Detroit Police Commander Jacqueline Pritchett says she told the woman that they could not allow him to enter because of his erratic behavior.
Pritchett says she thanked the woman for her persistence in getting the man the help that he needed by taking him to a local hospital.
Pritchett also explains timing and some divine intervention may have also helped save the man's life.
The man and woman arrived an hour after roll call, but had they arrived an hour earlier, Pritchett explains the man would have encountered a number of officers, and given his erratic behavior, there's no telling how the situation might have ended outside the precinct.
We're told the woman allowed police to search her home and officers recovered three firearms.
