Boston police help hatchet-wielding veteran who was threatening self-harm

Boston Police helped a veteran who was threatening to harm himself with a hatchet on a bus in Dorchester on Veteran’s Day.

Officers responded to a report of a person with a hatchet to his neck threatening to cause himself bodily harm on a bus near Columbia Road and Stoughton Street in Dorchester at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

Backup arrived after an officer boarded the bus and saw a heavy-set man who looked to be in his 50’s with a hatchet in hand. Capt. Haseeb Hosein and Officer David Godin spoke to the man in hopes of calming him down. In the midst of their conversation, the man told police that he was a veteran.

Police said that the Officer Godin thanked the man for his service, and at that moment, the man dropped the hatchet and voluntarilly walked off the bus and into an ambulance.

“When the guy mentioned he was a veteran, thanking him for his service on Veteran’s Day just seemed like the right thing to say and, maybe, it was the thing he needed to hear,” Godin said. “The goal on a call like this is for everyone to go home safe and, thankfully, today everybody did.