Mitchell Stern, the Sheriff of Verona, a New Jersey township which features the same name of the Italian town (Photo/Sina Weibo)
An email from a Chinese student in Britain, intended for police in Verona, Italy, was wrongly sent to a sheriff in Verona Town, New Jersey, on April 14.
The sender said a Chinese student in Verona, Italy had an intention to commit suicide and hoped the local police could prevent the tragedy.
After reading the email, Mitchell Stern, the Sheriff of Verona, a New Jersey township which features the same name of the Italian town, immediately contacted Italian police for assistance.
Stern said that he could immediately tell from the email that the sender was in need of help.
Stern spent hours vainly trying to reach the police in Verona before deciding to call the Italian Consulate in New York; unfortunately, the consulate was already closed.
The sheriff then called the Regional Operations and Intelligence Center of New Jersey State Police and was told to contact the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Washington D.C.
At 5:46pm, local time, Stern reached the Interpol police and told them about the young woman's situation in Italy, forwarding the email before the police called their Italian counterparts.
At 7:35pm, Stern received an email from Italian Interpol saying that the woman had been sent to hospital and was in stable condition. At 9:30pm, a more detailed email from Italian Interpol – saying that the girl had taken an overdose of counter-depression pills and cut her wrist before she was hospitalized – reached Stern. However, the email assured the New Jersey sheriff that her life was not in danger and that she was being treated at the hospital.
Later, Stern received an email from the Chinese woman, who was grateful for his help. She said she felt fortunate to still have the opportunity to write to him to show her immense gratitude and that she now found life beautiful again.
Stern's good deed has been acknowledged by various politicians in New Jersey.
