A 31-year-old man in an altered mental state is safe in police custody this afternoon after a standoff on a fire escape in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district that lasted roughly 16 hours, a police spokeswoman said.
Police negotiators and a family member were in close communication with the man after he threatened to jump from a building at the intersection of Taylor and Eddy streets, San Francisco police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan said.
Police received a 911 call from a person in the building who requested a well-being check when they saw the man standing on the building’s fire escape around 9:51 p.m. on Thursday.
Gatpandan said the man finally came inside the building through an apartment unit today at 2:03 p.m.
Pedestrians and motorists were unable to use Taylor Street between Turk and Ellis streets and Eddy Street between Jones and Mason streets while police were responding to the incident, Gatpandan said.
The man was visible on the fire escape from the ground below and small crowds of people gathered at the intersections near the building.
The man, wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans, was animatedly gesturing with his hands and body and was yelling both toward the street and the building. He was climbing the ladders and standing on the railings of the fire escape.
From the ground the man could be heard yelling “shut up” and a mix of profanities.
Gatpandan said the man is now with medics and will be transported to an emergency psychiatric center where he will be able to receive medical attention.
Unlike a similar situation that unfolded in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood earlier this week, this man is not suspected of committing any crimes, according to Gatpandan.
In that incident, on Wednesday afternoon, a man ran from a California Highway Patrol traffic stop and threatened to jump from a two-story building.
The man had been dangling from the window of a building on 10th Street near Harrison Street for roughly three hours before he was finally talked down and taken into custody just after 6 p.m.
Police said this man was also in a mental altered state and was eventually taken into custody with the help of a family pet when the suspect’s family brought the man’s cat, Trip, to the scene, Gatpandan said.
Anyone who sees someone they believe is in a mentally altered state and who appears to be a danger to themselves or others should contact police immediately, Gatpandan said.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
