WILMINGTON, North Carolina — Wilmington police said crisis dialogue and trained first responders helped bring a man safely out of the Cape Fear River after he entered the water from the Isabel Holmes Bridge on Sunday evening.
Officers responded at about 5:30 p.m. Aug. 30 after finding the man on top of the bridge, according to a Sept. 1 report by WECT based on the Wilmington Police Department's account and an interview with Officer Chris Kingston.
Boat crew moved while officers kept talking
Kingston told the station that an officer tried to conduct a welfare check, but the man entered the river before the check could be completed. First responders then deployed a boat and pulled him from the water.
The department credited continued communication as an important part of the rescue while crews moved into position. Kingston summarized a central lesson of crisis response: “A lot of times individuals in crisis just want to be heard.”
WECT did not identify the man, and ThinBlueNews is withholding private personal and medical details. The available account does not specify his later medical condition, so this report does not add a diagnosis or prognosis.
Training built around listening
Kingston said Wilmington officers maintain crisis-communication skills through continuing training, with the FBI's basic crisis and hostage negotiation course serving as foundational instruction for negotiators.
He also said help is available at all hours when someone is experiencing a mental-health or substance-use crisis. The rescue highlights a part of civilian law enforcement that can be difficult to see from outside: keeping a conversation going while officers and other responders coordinate a physical rescue.
Crisis help is available
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or emotional distress in the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In an immediate emergency, call 911.
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Sources and visual disclosure
- WECT — Sept. 1 report and interview with Wilmington Police Officer Chris Kingston.
- Wikimedia Commons — 2024 NCDOTcommunications photograph of the Isabel Holmes Bridge, licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Source boundary: the incident sequence in this report comes from WECT's direct interview and its account attributed to Wilmington police. ThinBlueNews did not independently obtain an incident report or medical record and does not identify the person in crisis.
Visual note: the featured image is a licensed 2024 context photograph of the Isabel Holmes Bridge. It does not depict the Aug. 30 crisis, the person involved or the rescue response.
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