Two DuPage County sheriff’s police officers defused a potentially dangerous situation outside the county government complex Tuesday when they persuaded a 32-year-old woman not to take her own life.
The woman, whom authorities would not identify, arrived at sheriff’s police headquarters at about 11 a.m. to turn herself in on a misdemeanor arrest warrant, a spokeswoman for DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba said.
But she would not get out of her car. Two friends who had accompanied her to the police department went inside the building to inform authorities that their friend had put a knife to her throat and was threatening to kill herself.
Authorities closed off a portion of the parking lot while Lt. Gregory Litzo and Detective Clyde Motter talked to the woman and persuaded her to hand over the knife, the spokeswoman said.
The incident lasted about 30 minutes. The woman was taken by ambulance to Central DuPage Hospital for an evaluation.