Embattled Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh's threatened to harm himself in a conversation with the mother of a teen he was mentoring.
Pugh's uncle, Philip Pugh, told WXYZ's Scott Lewis that the still-missing City Council President is still out of town, but he doesn't know where. He said another family member spoke with Pugh yesterday after the controversy over his gifts to the young man he was mentoring hit the news media.
He was OK, Phillip Pugh said, he just needed to clear his head because of what was going on. Mentally he’s taken a beating.
Some fear Charles Pugh could be so despondent he could be considering taking his life. Pugh said as much when 7 Action News was interviewing the mother of the young man Pugh was mentoring.
Pugh called the mom's cell phone repeatedly while Channel 7's cameras were rolling. He threatened suicide when the mom repeatedly rejected his pleas not to take her story to the media.
This is a verbatim of the conversation we recorded:
Pugh: I’m thinking about killing myself because I can’t, I can’t…
Mom: Why would you want to kill yourself? What did you do wrong?
Pugh: I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m saying, the media, the media.
