PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A man held a box cutter at his girlfriend's throat and screamed for the Providence police to kill him.
The woman begged them not to shoot. He wasn't going to hurt her, Tiffany Sweeney, 29, told the officers, according to a report. He just wanted to die.
In a parking lot off Elmwood Avenue Thursday afternoon, the officers had seconds to save a life -- without taking one.
The officers tried talking. They tried Tasing. Then, they tackled, with one officer yanking away the knife.
Devanji Powell, 38, surrendered and was arrested.
Col. Hugh Clements praised the officers. "No question that 'suicide by cop' is real, and the confrontations our officers have with mental illness is dangerous," he said Friday. "The training we have in less-lethal [weapons] is saving lives."