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New Jersey Man Stops Sacramento Webcam Suicide

by Blue Crush | February 5, 2009 at 09:19 am

387 views | 58 Recommendations | 6 comments

SACRAMENTO, CA - A young man is recovering, following an attempted suicide which was broadcast via webcam from his home. He'd been chatting online with another young man from Camden, New Jersey and using a video webcam when the New Jersey man witnessed him cutting himself with a razor blade.

Coltrane said the victim was suicidal for the better part of the conversation, leading up to the cutting incident that compelled him to call police. "Suddenly it hit me. Someone needs to help him because if he kills himself, I am the only person who knows," Coltrane said. "The guilt would have been on me."

Coltrane called Sacramento police and gave them the only information about the young man he had, a name and a phone number. Sacramento police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said officers took that information and quickly located the victim. He was taken to the hospital and was expected to recover. "This is an unique case in the sense that very seldom do we run into web-type things where it's being viewed by other people," Leong said. "Suicides happen, but very seldom while other people are watching."

In November of 2008, a Florida teen made headlines after he killed himself in front of thousands of bloggers watching his webcam. Of the thousands who watched the live suicide, none called police until hours later, when it was too late.

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Amy Judd

at 09:27 on February 5th, 2009

Thank goodness he did something - I was going to cite the same reference you have at the bottom of the other boy who killed himself and no one did anything.

Paschen

at 16:28 on February 5th, 2009

Well that is a much better story then those cheering on such cases rather then help to stop them. Good news and a great Man he is.

kuuva

at 17:27 on February 5th, 2009

i love hearing a positive story. Its unfortunate that the teen was going to commit suicide. But for the the other guy to get a hold of the police is great.

lefty_liberated

at 17:42 on February 5th, 2009

it's so nice to hear one of these stories got the other way.

Marisa Olivia

at 11:15 on February 6th, 2009

Crazy. I'm glad the police were able to track him down quickly enough. I wonder what the conversation was even about before he started to make his move. It seems like it must have been pretty bleak, if he went all the way as to take his own life. Not to be a pessimist - cos it's awesome the the NJ guy called the police - but I wonder why he didn't try to call someone sooner... this man was clearly very close to the edge as it was. I wonder if he was spending that whole time trying to talk him down.