Police and SCDF say officers responded correctly in incident of woman who jumped from Eunos flat

Officers on the ground floor had tried to dissuade the woman from jumping off the ledge, according to a statement. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS READER

SINGAPORE - Officers from the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) followed procedure and acted appropriately in a recent incident where a woman jumped from height at 36 Eunos Crescent on Tuesday.

The woman was taken conscious to hospital.

In a joint statement on Friday, the two agencies said they were aware of online comments suggesting their officers could have done more.

The statement said the police received a call for assistance at about 6.30pm, and the first pair of officers arrived at the HDB block 13 minutes later and rushed immediately to the fifth-floor unit, but the door was locked.

A minute later, two more police officers arrived and from the ground floor, they saw the woman standing on the ledge of the unit.

Other officers arrived shortly after.

"The officers at the ground floor engaged the woman to try to dissuade her from jumping off the ledge, using both English and her mother tongue.

"However, the woman was not receptive to the attempts by the police officers to calm her down, nor to retreat from the ledge into the unit," the joint-statement said.

SCDF was alerted at 6.43pm, and a Red Rhino arrived within eight minutes, followed very quickly by a fire engine and an ambulance.

While the SCDF personnel were in the midst of hauling rescue equipment up to the unit and a safety life air pack was en route, the woman jumped off the ledge at 6.54pm.

The statement said: "The police and SCDF officers who attended to the incident had acted appropriately and in accordance with procedures.

"We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of two members of the public who tried to engage the woman prior to the arrival of the police, when they saw her on the ledge."

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