Officers Use Crisis Negotiation Skills to Calm an Individual in Mental Health Crisis
Culver City Police Department officers responded to a disturbance call at a local motel on March 1, where a man appeared to be in the midst of a mental health crisis, throwing items from a room and causing a disturbance.
Upon arrival, officers found the room’s door ajar and a nude adult male inside, yelling obscenities and bleeding from his hands and feet.
The man briefly exited the room, approaching officers with clenched fists as if to attack, before retreating back inside. Investigation revealed that he had also thrown a chair from an upper level, damaging a vehicle’s windshield below.
Officers attempted to communicate with the agitated and aggressive man as he intermittently exited and re-entered the room. Employing crisis negotiation skills, they successfully de-escalated the situation and established rapport with him. Eventually, he voluntarily left the room and received the necessary medical attention.