An unidentified man died early Tuesday as he jumped from one tree to another, near the Monongalia County Board of Education building on South High Street.
According to a release from Morgantown Police Department, officers responded to a call involving a man “in a state of psychiatric distress” at about 5:30 a.m. The caller said a person was heard screaming in the vicinity of the Monongalia County Board of Education building.
When they arrived, officers found a man “in a state of psychiatric distress,” who was climbing trees in the area and screaming. He headed toward the wooded area near the end of Prairie Avenue, which runs perpendicular to South High. Morgantown firefighters and EMS workers arrived to help “the distressed individual, who eventually climbed more than 50 feet up a tree.”
“Officers tried to talk the subject down from the tree, but he attempted to jump from one tree to another and fell to the ground,” the release states.
First responders attempted to save the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said he was not carrying identification, nor was he familiar to any of the first responders.
He is described as a white male in his late 30s, possibly early 40s. Detectives are attempting to identify him.
This incident was not connected with the Board of Education or Morgantown High School and the individual never entered those properties.
No other information is available at this time.
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