NORTH ATTLEBORO - A potential suicide was averted when a local police officer responding to a routine disturbance call over the weekend stopped a man from trying to slice his own throat with a knife.

The 22-year-old man put a large kitchen knife to his throat Friday night when officers Doug Beaulieu and David Lowe went to the man's Broad Street apartment to investigate a disturbance call.

Beaulieu grabbed the man's wrists before he was able to injure himself and got him to the ground before he finally released his grip on the knife, according to a police report.

North Attleboro Police Chief Michael P. Gould Sr. praised the officer for defusing a dangerous situation that police face several times a year.

"The average citizen doesn't think that this type of incident is common. The officer acted in an exemplary manner and possibly saved the man's life," Gould said. The incident began innocuously when police were called by a neighbor who said the man had been throwing bottles and light bulbs into the street and threw a bottle at her.

When Beaulieu and Lowe arrived, they found the street littered with broken glass.

The man kept the knife hidden when he answered the door, then put it to his neck soon after the officers began to talk to him, police said.

The man was charged with assault by means of a dangerous weapon, vandalizing property, being disorderly and disturbing the peace.

Innocent pleas were entered Monday in Attleboro District Court, where the man was ordered held in jail without bail pending a probation violation hearing Feb. 6.

The man was already on probation for attempting to commit a crime and disorderly charges. He had already been ordered to go to psychological counseling and was ordered to pay a $100 victim-witness fee.