Man recovering from public suicide attempt

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County man has been released on his own recognizance after attempting to commit suicide in a crowded downtown nightclub earlier this month.

Sandpoint Police Chief Mark Lockwood said the 26-year-old man was treated at Bonner General Hospital for a laceration and placed under a temporary mental hold following the May 3 episode at Synergy. The incident happened at about 1:18 a.m.

The man was apparently distraught about a recent breakup with his girlfriend and argued with her inside the nightclub. The woman told police he said he was going to kill himself, broke a bottle on a table, plunged it into his arm and drew it down toward his wrist.

Witnesses in the club said they saw the man bloodied and sprawled on the floor, apparently unconscious. A 911 call was placed, the club’s disc jockey shut down the music and a bystander used his shirt as a makeshift tourniquet, according to witnesses.

The man reportedly became combative when emergency workers and police arrived.

Lockwood said the man was released later that day because he was no longer considered to be a threat to himself or others.

“As he sobered up, he concluded that this was not a good idea,” Lockwood said of the man’s suicide attempt.

News of the incident broke on Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging Web site that enables users to send each other brief text-based messages.