Distressed man made threat to jump from bridge at Raceview Road

A distressed man, who threatened to leap from a bridge on the Raceview Road dual carriageway just outside Ballymena on Friday afternoon, was successfully talked down by police.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd Aug 2010, 13:26 BST

Updated 2nd Aug 2010, 14:02 BST

The man, who is understood to be in his 40s and from Antrim, was taken to Antrim Area Hospital for assessment after the incident which was reported to the PSNI at around 4.15pm.

It is understood the man had positioned himself on the wrong side of railings at the bridge and had a noose around his neck.

A police spokesman told The Times: “We spoke to the man, who was in a distressed state and persuaded him to come off the bridge. He was then taken to hospital for assessment”.

The incident, which necessitated the closure of a section of the dual carriageway in both directions for more than four hours, resulted in traffic chaos.

A large volume of motorists trying to enter and exit motorway slips along the route and others attempting to access Broughshane village had be directed away from the area until the incident ended at around 8.55pm.