Traffic shut down on Highway 99 for suicidal man

Traffic was briefly shut down Tuesday morning near Delhi as law enforcement officials dealt with a man on Highway 99 who said he wanted to take his own life.

“We closed both the northbound and southbound lanes of traffic for the public’s safety,” said Officer Moises Onsurez of the California Highway Patrol. “He’d made statements to dispatchers that if (law enforcement) tried to contact him, it wouldn’t go well, so we took the precaution of shutting down traffic to keep everybody safe.”

Traffic was backed up more than two miles in both directions as officers and deputies from the Merced County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the man.

Officers went at about 9:30 a.m. to southbound Highway 99 and Frontage Road. Officers spotted a man walking near the roadway and detained him. He was put under the supervision of sheriff’s deputies.

There were no injuries.

The highway reopened a short time later.

This story was originally published October 20, 2015 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Traffic shut down on Highway 99 for suicidal man."