Man Spent Over 24 Hours Atop Dallas Crane Before Being Taken Into Custody

After more than 24 hours, a man who climbed to the top of a construction crane on Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas was lowered down and taken into police custody early Tuesday morning. The man’s name has not yet been released.

Police first got a call about the man on Monday morning. Dallas police, SWAT officers and Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) all responded to the scene and closed off several streets in the area, according to FOX. They spent the whole day, night and part of Tuesday morning negotiating with the man to try to get him to come down. Three blocks of Singleton Boulevard were closed during the negotiations.

According to NBCDFW, the man was taken into custody before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. He had to be strapped to a harness and lowered to the ground as rain poured down over the area this morning. During the hours of negotiations the man would walk along the crane’s boom that hovered over Singleton Boulevard. The outlet reported that the crane’s operator initially called the police Monday morning when he showed up to work around 7 a.m. and found the man. The crane operator called the police when the man refused to leave.

Officials with DFR told WFAA that the man became more cooperative with police overnight “as the circumstances began to take their toll on him.” SWAT officers were planning to bring the man down but DFR handled the rescue because he became more cooperative and his condition “began to deteriorate,” according to WFAA. The outlet reported that police initially thought the man appeared to be in distress.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital to be evaluated. His motives are still unknown, and it’s uncertain whether he’ll face charges. Asked for an update on the man’s conditions and whether he’s facing charges, a DPD spokesperson told the Observer, “This is all still being determined [and] investigated."