Bucks County officials believe three separate deaths on park property this week were suicides.
On Tuesday afternoon, a body was found in a car at the small gravel parking area near the baseball fields at Chickenfoot Park between Trenton and Woodbourne roads in Middletown. Township police and Bucks County Rangers surrounded the vehicle and covered it with a white sheet as they investigated. The death is believed by authorities as of Friday to be a suicide.
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Hours later at the county-owned Delaware River Access Area in Bensalem, a person dead by suspected suicide was found, officials said.
Rangers and the Bucks County Coroner responded Friday morning to the gravel parking lot at the baseball field on Woodbourne Road between Cobalt Ridge Drive North and Cobalt Cross Road in Middletown for a body in a vehicle. The death, according to county spokesperson Juliet Kelchner, is suspected to be a suicide.
While suicides at Bucks County’s 9,000-plus acres of park property are not unheard of, three suicides in a week is unusual.
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A report released earlier this year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed Pennsylvania’s suicide rate has increased by 34 percent since 1999. A top government medical official called the findings at the time “disturbing.”
Nearly 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016. The number of deaths ranks it among the top 10 leading causes of death.
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“We found that many common life stressors were present in the period preceding the suicide, in relationship problems, financial and job issues, physical health concerns,” Dr. Anne Shuchat, deputy director of the CDC, said at the time.
CDC officials said everyone can ask someone they are concerned about if they are contemplating suicide. They can also keep those loved ones safe and reduce access to potential weapons and be with them.
“Listen to what they need,” officials said.
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The county has worked in recent years to tackle suicide deaths by forming the Bucks County Suicide Prevention Task Force and working to reduce the stigma while coordinating activities between health care providers, law enforcement, schools, government, and area organizations.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, the National Crisis Line can be reached day or night at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Bucks County also operates an around-the-clock crisis line at 1-800-499-7455.
