Atlanta, GA
How an Atlanta police officer was able to convince knife-wielding woman not to harm herself
Officer seen on camera calming woman in crisis
She was along the Chattahoochee River, holding a knife to her chest. That is where Atlanta Police Officer Harding stepped in. What happened next will be studied by other officers for years.
ATLANTA – Atlanta police released video on Friday of one of their officers successfully talking a woman down from hurting herself, as she had a knife pressed against her own chest.
“Put the knife down for me and grab my hand,” APD Officer Harding can be heard saying on his bodycam video.
He was trying desperately to talk a woman down from hurting herself as she holds a knife against her chest, seemingly ready to stab herself.
“I don’t want you to hurt yourself, you’re precious, you’re a precious human being,” Officer Harding tells the woman on the video.
On June 27, Officer Harding responded to the call of a missing woman being spotted at around 11:30 a.m. at an address along Paces Ferry Road.
She had been reported missing by her family only an hour before.
Once he encounters the woman sitting along the Chattahoochee River, he immediately tries to make her feel safe.
“I’m serious, there’s too many people that love you. I’m here to help you,” he says to her.
“I was so impressed and so moved by watching this officer have such compassion for this woman who was clearly in incredible pain,” said Atlanta psychotherapist Laura Morse after she watched the video.
She says the way Officer Harding starts the encounter with the woman was key.
“He chose to engage her personally, to let her know that he saw her, that he knew that she was in trouble, that he cared about her,” Morse said.
At one point, Harding says to her, “God loves you, we love you.”
Later, Harding sits down in front of her before continuing to talk to her, essentially slowing down the whole interaction.
“He provided hope for her, and he was patient. He waited for her to come around instead of forcing an agenda or charging her,” said Cori Ross, LCSW.
Ross says the officer’s patient approach not only calmed the woman down, but also allowed him to act calmly.
“So, by slowing it down, he creates calm in his body, he’s able to access his rational brain, get in touch with the situation, not feel threatened,” Ross said.
These two experts say his approach is what eventually allowed Harding to get her to surrender the knife and climb off the riverbank.
“Can I have the knife? Let me have the knife. Let me have it, thank you!” he says to her as she hands him the large knife.
Even after making her safe, Harding continues to reassure her.
At one point she calls herself “a failure.” However, Harding reassures her and tells her “God doesn’t make failures.”
Eventually he gets her to paramedics and mental health clinicians who are standing by.
“It is everything that you hope an interaction would be when it’s regarding mental illness or mental health issues,” Morse said.
Officer Harding has been with APD since 2009.
The Department says what he did relates to their de-escalation training, which officers have to complete annually.
Both Morse and Ross say they hope law enforcement agencies will learn from this interaction.