Barton County Sheriff’s Office personnel Sunday morning talked a distraught Great Bend man out of hanging himself from the KSN transmitter station tower north of Great Bend, Sheriff Brian Bellendir said.

At about 10:45 a.m. Sunday, deputies were dispatched to the television tower about 4 miles north of Great Bend. The BCSO had received reports of a suicidal subject who had climbed the tower and was threatening to kill himself.

Upon arrival, deputies discovered a 41-year-old Great Bend man about 200 feet above ground level standing on a platform in the tower. The man also carried a section of rope up the tower with him.
“Evidently the individual is upset due to domestic matters,” Bellendir said.

Deputy David Melcher established telephone contact with the distraught man, and at a later point Detective Sgt. David Paden also talked to him. After about 30 minutes, officers convinced the man to climb back down the tower.
He was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Barton County Jail where he was evaluated and later transported to a mental health facility.

There were no injuries to emergency personnel or to the man.
The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by members of the Great Bend Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services.