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Crime & Safety

Man Climbs Tower, Refuses Rescue

Firefighters with a ladder truck are trying to entice the distraught man down from the water tower at the Tannery on Coombs Street.

Updated 7:15 p.m. - please see

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It's a waiting game at the Sawyer Tannery complex on Coombs Street as firefighters and police attempt to entice a man from his dangerous perch atop the old factory water tower, one of the city's original industrial landmarks.

The Spanish-speaking man clambered to the top of the tower and first attracted notice around 10 a.m., according to photojournalist Robert Peebles, Jr., who arrived at the scene shortly afterward.

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Often shouting and banging on the empty water tank, the man has a backpack with him and was carrying a book, which he dropped, Peebles said.

Spanish-speaking witnesses at the scene said the man was not making much sense in his statements.

Firefighters sent up a truck ladder with a helmeted, rifle-bearing SWAT agent and another officer in an effort to reach the man, but he repeatedly evaded them by retreating to the other side of the water tank, using a pivoting ladder that is attached to the very top of the silver-colored landmark.

By 2 p.m. the two agents had climbed back down from their lofty watch and firefighters retracted the ladder to the truck. A few minutes later, the rifle-bearing SWAT officer was seen entering one of the Tannery businesses, possibly in an effort to gain access to the tower from the building.

A Spanish-speaking negotiator with a megaphone was attempting to engage the man in a dialog, as police officials and sheriff's deputies trained telescopes and binoculars on the small, dark figure high atop the water tank.

A team of paramedics stood by. Clusters of onlookers lingered on sidewalks and front stoops along Coombs Street, straining their eyes and ears to catch what they could of the unfolding drama.

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