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Video Shows LAPD Preventing Attempted Suicide

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Police Department is circulating a link to dramatic video footage it says shows officers hoisting a suicidal man back from the edge of the 13th floor of a downtown apartment building.

In the incident, caught on tape Thursday, several officers can be seen scrambling to pull a man back onto a ledge.

Officers lean through safety railings then grab him by his underwear and grapple with him for several minutes as his legs flail over the abyss.

The LAPD says the man, in his early 30s, was distraught after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Lt. Paul Vernon says the man bit the arm of one officer who, despite the pain, did not let go.

The man was not arrested but was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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