CANTON, Mich. (WXYZ) — Neighbors and first responders worked to rescue an elderly man hanging from a window.
It happened in Canton over the weekend. The tense moments were captured on camera after police arrived on the scene. The incident is raising awareness about the struggles some families encounter as older loved ones experience cognitive decline.
Body-worn cameras captured police in their part of the daring rescue. An elderly man suffering from dementia fell from a second-story window at his home in Canton around 3 a.m. Saturday.
See body camera video below:
The man's wife said he was trying to get out of the room but didn’t quite know how, so he chose the window.
“He chose the window. He told me he thought that was his best choice. He couldn’t find his way out of the room,” Lynnette Barnett, the man’s wife, said.
Barnett told 7 News Detroit the window closed on her husband’s foot as he fell leaving him hanging several feet above ground scrambling for safety. She says if the window had not closed, he would have died from the fall.
Hear more from Lynnette Barnett in the video player below:
Neighbors like Blair Kraft and his wife heard the man’s desperate cries for help.
“He was screaming ‘help me, help me. Blair, I’m going to die. Get a ladder,’” Kraft said. “I ran and got my ladder, and it was too short. By myself, I really couldn’t do anything.”
Kraft’s wife called 911 and Canton police responded swiftly.
“They got there fast,” Kraft said. “The minute they got there, the ladder that I was terrified of, two of them scrambled up like it was nothing to get a hold of him.”
Hear more from Blair Kraft in the video player below:
Two officers worked from inside the house while others worked outside supporting the man’s body. All of them ultimately pushed and pulled him back inside the house to safety.
“There’s a lot of pressure and trauma that’s happening to the body when you’re 78 years old and you’re hanging by your foot outside a window — that’s a lot of trauma,” Canton Police Chief Chad Baugh said. “We were so fortunate we had some quick-thinking residents, some real ingenious police officers and they all came together. Police officers formed like a human pyramid. They worked with the neighbors to get a ladder. The love, the compassion that came out through the officers.”
Baugh shared advice for families that are starting to deal with a loved one suffering from dementia.
“Just try to hold on to them and keep them safe. And if they’re at a point where they need constant care, maybe you need to look into a place where they can be kept safe,” Barnett said.
Thankfully, the man is OK and did not suffer any significant injuries. His family now has him in an assisted living and rehab center better suited to care for him.
