He tried to end his life last Thursday atop the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

He drove his Lexus SUV to the top, parked it across the northbound lanes and threatened to drive his vehicle off of the bridge. He contacted his family and his neighbor and told them he was ready 'for closure."

He was eventually detained by police officials and charged with reckless driving and is being evaluated at a local hospital.

A neighbor who did not want to be identified said he told her, "nobody would help him."

He worried that someone had broken into his home, tapped his phones and placed GPS devices on his vehicle.

His home, nestled in a cul-de-sac in Horlbeck Creek faced Hwy. 41. At the sound of a loud truck engine DeClemente became spooked. He was sure those engines were being revved up loudly to catch his attention.

During a two hour interview with the Moultrie News almost a year ago, he embarked on an extensive effort to prove that harassment and stalking charges against him were false. In fact, he said, he was the one being stalked.

DeClemente, 38, entered the Charleston County Detention Center in February 2011 for two counts of stalking.

But he said people were trying to scare him into staying quiet. Because of his position as a private detective, DeClemente said he knew way too much about the private lives of some important local and state figureheads.

Should 'this information get out," he said, "heads would roll."

DeClemente hired the Mason Law firm in April to defend him against the charges of stalking.

Those charges against him were eventually reduced, but his claim of being a victim, and not being heard, haunted him.

DeClemente gathered what he considered "evidence" of being stalked and harassed. He said people were sent into his home to disturb things and move them around. He videotaped all activity in his front yard and back yard. He created extensive power point presentations to present to officials in an effort to prove he was being stalked.

"This past week has confirmed 100 percent there are an excessive amount of people driving vehicles near my home to harass me," he wrote to the Moultrie News. "How and why? The vehicles that have been driving by that include school buses, semi trucks, dump trucks, work vehicles, different pickup trucks and cars now pass without making noise. They still drive all day up and down Hwy. 41, but they are no longer using their music, engines or mufflers to make noise. For two months I watched, videotaped and took pictures of these vehicles purposely making sounds with the vehicles as they pass," DeClemente said in an e-mail.

"Not one of them are making any sounds now. Thank God, because I finally have been able to rest some, but it confirms that all these vehicles are involved to some extent in Leaird's agenda. The FBI has not returned any messages or e-mails I've sent, I wonder if this is because they're in the middle of an investigation? I can only pray that's why and there will be an end some day soon."

DeClemente said his attorneys requested he have a mental evaluation done. He said he completed that but the results were criticized and unaccepted.

In April he e-mailed this reporter and said, "I'm willing to offer a 5K reward to the person that gives any information that leads to the arrest of the people responsible for the harassment (driving up and down 41 and keeping me boxed in)."

As a former member of the Charleston County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad, part of his duties included working on the dive team, swimming through Charleston-area rivers, lakes and ponds during search-and-rescue and missing-person cases. A Charleston County spokesperson said DeClemente hasn't been an active member of the Rescue Squad for at least a year, but during his time with the squad, he won awards for his service, including the Life Saving Award in 2006, 2008 and 2009, as well as a special recognition for a rescue off the coast of Seabrook Island in 2002. And despite the close ties he had with local law enforcement personnel, DeClemente said they all turned on him. DeClemente said proof of this was when he was pulled twice in January 2011. Once for being suspected of throwing narcotics out of his car window and once for improper turn signal.

DeClemente worked with David Leaird as a private investigator with Surveillance Technologies Investigative Services (STIS). Leaird and co-worker Summer Walker both filed the stalking charges against DeClemente after their business partnership soured.

Leaird did not want to be interviewed for this story. Walker could not be reached.

Both Leaird and DeClemente ultimately had restraining orders issued against each other. East Cooper Magistrate Thomas E. Lynn approved the measures.

In addition, an order of protection was issued against DeClemente by Walker.

Judge Jerry D. Vinson Jr. approved this measure.

The transcripts of this hearing filed by Walker, in which DeClemente appeared to appeal the ruling, indicate that he was verbally abusive to Walker. "There were many events before this one, but the day that I actually went to leave and take my belongings with me, he had always threatened me that if I tried to leave, that he would harm me," Walker testified. "He would do everything he could, that he would eventually get me. That he would kill me if he ever, you know, caught me cheating on him. Just constant threats. And the day that I went to leave, the police from Mount Pleasant had to go with me to get my - just my personal belongings out of the house. And when I went to leave, he told me that I better be prepared for the murder/suicide; that I had brought all this on myself and that I would end up paying for it."

Walker moved back to Georgia but continued to work for Leaird here in Charleston. She testified that she was scared to death of DeClemente because he always found her when she came to town to work and followed her.

Walker said she had audio recordings of him admitting to this behavior and stating that he needs help.

At that hearing DeClemente apologized to the judge for being in the courtroom "wasting your time."

He told the judge that their relationship had been volatile. He said that six police reports had been filed by Walker, none of which resulted in an actual complaint against DeClemente.

He went on to say that he filed a complaint with SLED about Leaird's business practices and in retaliation, Walker and Leaird were trying to attempt to discredit the complaint that's been forwarded to SLED.

He testified that he was assaulted by Leaird and that Leaird broke into his house and put illegal tapping devices inside the house.

The judge issued the order of restraint on Walker's behalf, which was good for one year.

DeClemente said he spent thousands of dollars trying to clear his name of the stalking charges both Leaird and Walker pressed against him.

He had a mental health evaluation completed by Deborah Seabrook M. Ed. LPC which characterized him as slightly hyperactive, but functioning well in life. She said his thinking was clear and his thoughts reflected real issues.

Ultimately, DeClemente pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second degree harassment and was sentenced to time served.

His most recent actions Thursday on the bridge, in which his vehicle bore hand-painted messages saying: "Stay Away," "Back Off," "Happy Now" and "Game Over," ended around 6 p.m. after a two-hour stand off with police.

He surrendered to police hostage negotiators about 5:10 p.m. and was taken to Medical University Hospital, Charleston police spokesman Charles Francis said.