Man taken to psychiatrist for suicide attempt?

New York, Dec 20: A relaxation period turned to a hectic one as a lawyer was taken to a psychiatrist while smoking on the sill of his second-floor apartment window and a pair of blundering cops mistook it as a suicide attempt.

Mark Moody (the lawyer) said that he was taking his usual nicotine break on the window ledge of his Peck Slip home with a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone in the other.

The 40-year-old trial lawyer was shocked when a police car rolled up and two cops jumped out.

"Are you about to commit suicide?" one cop asked.

"If I was going to commit suicide, this would be a pretty dumb place to do it. If I jumped from here, I'd just sprain my ankle," said Moody.

But the officers, who never said what prompted their concern, insisted Moody come downstairs.

Meanwhile, three ambulances and four other patrol cars pulled up and an officer lifted him out of his own living-room window from behind, said Moody.

The cop slammed him on the living-room floor while another kneeled on top of him and cuffed him, he claimed.

"I still don't know how they broke in," the New York Post quoted him as saying.

"I never used to keep the chain on, but now I do," he said.

The attorney was thrown into an ambulance and taken to Beth Israel Medical Center.

The on-duty psychiatrist apologized before quickly discharging him, Moody said.

"I talked to him for three minutes, and he said, 'Look, I'm really sorry. I apologize on behalf of the city,' " recalled Moody.

ANI