Sharon Stabley, The York Dispatch via AP James Lauck, 26, is helped down from a railroad bridge by New Cumberland Police Chief Oren "Bud" Kauffman, left, and a Fairview police officer. Click photo for larger image.

NEW CUMBERLAND -- A news photographer helped police persuade an escaped mental-hospital patient to climb down from a bridge where he was threatening to jump yesterday morning.

James Lauck, 26, was found shortly after 7 a.m. yesterday, standing in his underwear on a railroad bridge about 25 feet above the shallow Yellow Breeches Creek. Police said he had escaped from Harrisburg State Hospital Tuesday.

Lauck said he wanted to discuss conditions at the hospital with the media, so New Cumberland Police Chief Oren "Bud" Kauffman asked York Dispatch/Sunday News photographer Sharon Stabley if she would help.

"He said, 'This guy wants to talk to the media, and we just want to get him off the bridge. Will you talk to him?'" Stabley said. "I figured that getting this guy off the bridge was priority, not photography."

	The York Dispatch via AP York Dispatch photographer Sharon Stabley. Click photo for larger image.

Lauck told her he is unhappy with his treatment and wants the hospital to implement programs to help patients get out into the community.

He then agreed to leave the bridge, hugged Stabley and was driven away by police.

"We're not supposed to get involved, and we're not supposed to become part of the story, but somehow I did. I had to," she said. "It felt good to be able to put my camera down and help somebody."