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Man scales 80ft tree in downtown Seattle and refuses to come back down Man who scaled 80ft tree in Seattle comes down after more than 20 hours
(about 3 hours later)
A man is refusing to leave his perch near the top of an 80ft (24-meter) tree in downtown Seattle, despite hours of coaxing. A man who refused to leave his perch near the top of an 80ft tree in downtown Seattle, despite more than 20 hours of coaxing by police, descended on Wednesday afternoon and was taken away by emergency personnel.
Authorities were alerted to the unidentified man on Tuesday morning, and he was still clinging to its branches more than 20 hours later. Authorities were alerted to the unidentified man on Tuesday morning, and by midday he had stripped the sequoia of its highest branches and built himself a makeshift nest.
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“Issue appears to be between the man and the tree,” Seattle police tweeted.“Issue appears to be between the man and the tree,” Seattle police tweeted.
“It is quite a spectacle, honestly,” police spokesman Patrick Michaud told the Seattle Times.“It is quite a spectacle, honestly,” police spokesman Patrick Michaud told the Seattle Times.
Michaud said police want to make sure the man can get down without hurting himself or someone else and added that rushing it could create a dangerous situation. Police have said he appears to be suffering from a crisis and has been yelling intermittently. Michaud said police wanted to make sure the man could get down without hurting himself or someone else and added that rushing it could have created a dangerous situation. He added that the man appeared to be suffering from a crisis.
When officers tried to talk with him from the sixth floor of a nearby building, he yelled at them, made broad gestures with his arms and at one point stripped his pants, hung upside-down and mooned them.
But not long afterward, around noon local time, the bearded man clambered down the tree and sat down at its trunk. He rummaged around a bit on the ground and could be seen eating something. Eventually he allowed medical personnel to help him onto a gurney and into a waiting ambulance.
Traffic impacts continue arnd 4/Stewart as negotiators work to talk man down from tree w/assistance of @SeattleFire pic.twitter.com/jaduW6AkfiTraffic impacts continue arnd 4/Stewart as negotiators work to talk man down from tree w/assistance of @SeattleFire pic.twitter.com/jaduW6Akfi
Seattle police say when authorities arrived at the base of the tree, the man refused to speak with them and threw an apple at medics. He also threw “branches, pine cones and other items at officers on the street below, and claimed to be armed with a knife”, police said in a statement on their website. Seattle police said that when they arrived at the base of the tree, the man refused to speak with them and threw an apple at medics. He also threw “branches, pine cones and other items at officers on the street below, and claimed to be armed with a knife”, police said in a statement on their website.
The man has ripped multiple branches from the tree and tossed them at the ground and at negotiators. The man also ripped multiple branches from the tree and tossed them at negotiators on the ground.
In a statement on their website, Seattle police said the man “refused to speak with officers”, but that they had brought a fire truck ladder to the scene “to make face-to-face contact with the man as he straddled branches at the top of the tree”.In a statement on their website, Seattle police said the man “refused to speak with officers”, but that they had brought a fire truck ladder to the scene “to make face-to-face contact with the man as he straddled branches at the top of the tree”.
#ManInTree: Man climbs, refuses to come down from 80-foot sequoia in Seattle https://t.co/I0EXVE9VbV pic.twitter.com/qjDEhT90A1#ManInTree: Man climbs, refuses to come down from 80-foot sequoia in Seattle https://t.co/I0EXVE9VbV pic.twitter.com/qjDEhT90A1
Hundreds of people paused on their way to work to check out the man refusing to leave his perch. Many pulled out their phones to take a photo of his silhouette against the gray, drizzling sky and marveled that he was still there nearly a full day after climbing up. Hundreds of people paused on their way to work to check out the man refusing to leave his perch. Many used their phones to take photos of his silhouette against the gray, drizzling sky, and some cheered him on – although none knew why he ascended to such heights. Police blocked roadways with crime scene tape and forced locals to keep a wide berth of the tree.
The man spent much of the morning reclining quietly in the upper branches, but he resumed gesticulating wildly and shouting when two police officers tried to talk to him from sixth-floor windows of the Macy’s department store building next door. Others expressed confusion and irritation at the city’s handling of the situation. One man said the city had overreacted by sending tactical units, ambulances, fire trucks and police cruisers, and suggested that the city should have forced the man down with a fire hose. “Where’s the mayor?” he asked local KOMO news, which broadcast nearly the entire saga online.
Local chef Michelle Matsko gazed up at the man from underneath her red umbrella and wondered if he was trying to make a statement. She called his endurance impressive. Another woman, Janice Wilson, repeatedly yelled to him: “We love you! Come down safely!” Still more people simply came to experience the strangeness of the event. One person brought a goat named Deer, and someone’s personal drone hovered nearby.
The man spent much of the morning reclining quietly in the upper branches, but he resumed gesticulating wildly and shouting when two officers tried to talk to him from the nearby windows.
Local chef Michelle Matsko looked up at the man from underneath her red umbrella and wondered if he was trying to make a statement. She called his endurance impressive. Another woman, Janice Wilson, repeatedly yelled to him: “We love you! Come down safely!”