An off-duty police officer stopped an Evanston resident Sunday from jumping from the top floor of a downtown parking garage, officials said.

Ken Carter, a detective with the Evanston Police Department for 12 years, was leaving a downtown Evanston restaurant around 5 p.m. Sunday when a family member he was with saw a 22-year-old man standing on the ledge atop a parking garage, police said.

Carter notified police headquarters of the incident and when officers arrived, they went to the top floor of the garage, officials said. Two on-duty officers spoke with the man, whom police said was distraught and would not get off the ledge willingly. The man — who was not a Northwestern student — threw his wallet and cellphone off the ledge at one point, police said.

As the two officers tried to distract the man, Carter crawled on the garage’s ledge behind the subject and grabbed him, allowing officials to pull the 22-year-old to safety, authorities said.

Officials transported the man to Evanston Hospital for treatment, police said.

EPD lauded Carter for taking action to save the man.

This story was updated May 26 at 7:48 p.m.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @paigeleskin