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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 25, 1993                   TAG: 9303250078
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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CHIEF STOPS SUICIDE ATTEMPT ROANOKE POLICE

A man who was trying to kill himself on a downtown Roanoke street was saved Wednesday when Police Chief M. David Hooper managed to snatch the razor away.

"He had cut himself up pretty good, ' Hooper said.

The man had sliced his forearm with the razor before walking up Church Avenue toward Lee Plaza around 1 p.m. With each step he took, a splatter of blood hit the sidewalk.

Nervous pedestrians stood along the sidewalk talking about the stream of blood.

Hooper was walking, too, when he noticed the red splotches before him.

As he followed the trail, Hooper noticed the man lying at the foot of the War Memorial in the plaza.

"He still had the razor," Hooper said.

"What's going on?" Hooper asked the man.

"I'm killing myself," he answered.

Hooper wouldn't say how he got the razor away from the man.

"I did it quick," Hooper said.

The man tried to put up a fight after Hooper disarmed him, but the chief was able to subdue him.

Hooper shouted for assistance from a city worker who was in the plaza.

The employee called 911.

Hooper, who has been Roanoke's police chief since 1967, downplayed the event.

"It happens from time to time," he said.

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