Man in Custody, Lowered to the Ground After More Than 24 Hours Atop Dallas Crane

Police and firefighters rescued a man Tuesday who spent more than 24 hours on top of a crane in West Dallas, taking him into custody and lowering him to the ground before taking him to the hospital for a medical evaluation.

NBC 5 learned Monday morning the crane's operator arrived at work at about 7 a.m. and found the man on top of the crane. When the man refused to get off of the boom, the operator called the police.

Dallas Police arrived and joined the man at the top of the crane, but he still refused to come down. For the next 24 hours police, SWAT and firefighters remained at the scene and talked with the man, at times providing him with water and cigarettes, urging him to agree to come down.

Throughout the day Monday and overnight, the man paced up and down the crane's boom, sometimes climbing up onto the guy wires, and at other times sitting down to rest on the boom.

Ben Russell, NBC 5 News

Meanwhile, three blocks of Singleton Boulevard, between Conroe Street and Crossman Avenue, were closed as a precaution.

After spending the night atop the crane, through rain storms and strong wind, Dallas Fire-Rescue said Tuesday morning that the man became more cooperative with police "as the circumstances began to take their toll on him."

Dallas Police said SWAT members were able to make their way to the crane's cab at about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday morning. The man was sheltering in the cab and was taken into custody at that time. Police said the man appeared to have a self-inflicted cut to his abdomen, but that the injury was not life-threatening.

Before being brought down, the man was medically evaluated at the top of the crane. He was then strapped to a harness at about 9:30 a.m. and lowered to the ground below while attached to a Dallas firefighter who was also a member of the department's Urban Search and Rescue team.

Once on the ground, the man was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for further evaluation. The man's motivation for climbing on top of the crane is not yet known.

Dallas Police said Thursday that the 49-year-old man has been charged with criminal mischief, a state jail felony. He is currently being held in the Dallas County Jail on a $10,000 bond. It's not clear if he's obtained an attorney.