Youth rescued from Ashland water tower after suicide threat

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Police say they rescued a youth who threatened suicide from an Ashland water tower Tuesday.

Police were called to the water tower on North Henry Clay Boulevard at about 10:20 a.m. for a report of a youth who wanted to die by suicide by jumping from the tower, according to an Ashland Police Department post on Facebook.

Police and sheriff's deputies used a drone to find the youth sitting on the ledge of the water tower about 100 feet up, the post says. Police and fire agencies from Boone County and Columbia came to the scene to help and the 500 block of Henry Clay was closed during the response, the post says.

An Ashland police officer reached the youth by phone and talked to them while Columbia firefighters climbed the tower, the department says. The youth was safely brought down about an hour after the call.

The water tower is fenced in with a locked gate and the ladder has a tamper-resistant cover, the post says.

The youth will not be named for privacy reasons, police say.

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