(WXYZ) - A Highland Park police officer chose a non-lethal device over his gun to disarm a woman who told officers she wanted them to kill her - and it worked.

Patrol officer Javom Odom was five minutes from the end of his shift when a call came in reporting a mentally ill, violent, armed person.

Watch Faraz's story in the video player below:

BolaWrap used to disarm woman in mental health crisis in Highland Park

 When the call came out, mentally ill, violent, armed. So, I kind of get the hairs thinning up,  Odom said.

Officers found the woman in an alley, knife in hand. Her mother had already told police the woman had been stabbing herself.

 As soon as she saw us pull up, she started yelling, like, oh my God, why would you do this? And then already with the information we got from the mother that she was stabbing herself, getting there, you can see the knife in her hand. You already know there's something going on,  Odom said.

Officers worked to slow the situation down by keeping her talking.

 It's hard to talk to somebody with a knife in her hand that's in a crisis,  Odom said.

That conversation took a critical turn when the woman made a statement that changed the entire encounter.

 Eventually she said she wasn't dropping it and that she wanted us to kill her. So from that statement alone, I wanted to end that as quick as possible,  Odom said.

Rather than drawing his gun, Odom reached for a device called a BolaWrap - a non-lethal tool that fires a Kevlar cord designed to wrap around a person's body or legs, temporarily restricting their movement.

 As soon as the BolaWrap went off, she dropped the knife immediately. The next step is actually figure out now what's going on. And she was more than willing to talk to us,  Odom said.

Once the knife was gone, Odom learned the crisis stemmed from an argument following the woman's birthday.

Investigator Everett Monroe of the Highland Park Police Department said verbal communication is the first and most critical tool officers use in de-escalation.

 Ninety-five percent of our calls in de-escalating mental health persons in crisis, y

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