Despondent Man Slices Arm in Police Lobby

The man passed a cryptic note to the night supervisor at the front window in the Swampscott Police Station's lobby.

The visitor then took out a box cutter and sliced his arm from elbow to wrist, exposing bones, according to an account provided by Swampscott police Det. Tim Casssidy.

This was the second incident this year involving a despondent person doing or threatening harm at the police station.

Wednesday at 7:30, police night supervisor Lt. Thomas Stevens was helping a woman at the front window when another person entered the lobby.

The man, from Lynn, gave Lt. Stevens a business card, asking him to relay it to Police Chief Ron Madigan.

On the back of the card was written: “watch movie Papillion/Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman."

The lieutenant asked the man what the note was about and the man said, calmly, that he was stressed and needed a vacation — and the only way to get one would be to go to the hospital.

He then sliced his arm.

The lieutenant brought the man into the station proper, away from the woman at the window, and grabbed the man's arm to stop the bleeding.

He told Sgt McCarriston to call an ambulance. The man was taken to Mass General Hospital for treatment. 

"This is the second such incident this year where a despondent person came to the station in an attempt to injure themselves," Det. Cassidy said.

The other incident was in January. A Swampscott man came to the station early in the morning and asked to talk to officers in the parking lot. 

"... and while in the parking lot the male party had what appeared to be a gun in his waistband and while in the driveway he kept asking the officers who were called in from the street to deal with this situation what they would do if he pulled the gun out," the detective stated. 

"Those officers were able to wrestle the man to the ground and get the gun away from the man and then realized the gun was actually a fake gun.  This male party asked the officer 'why they didn’t shoot him.'"