Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Man climbs to top of crane, tosses objects down
A standoff sparked by a man who climbed to the top of a crane towering above a 25-story building under construction in Hollywood ended Sunday when he came down safely. The drama snarled traffic at Young Circle and drew hundreds of curious onlookers.
HOLLYWOOD — A standoff sparked by a man who climbed to the top of a crane towering above a 25-story building under construction in Hollywood ended Sunday afternoon when the man came down safely.
The drama, which snarled traffic at Hollywood’s Young Circle and drew hundreds of curious onlookers, ended at 1:40 p.m. when the man climbed down the ladder in the middle of the 300-foot crane’s tower.
After the man jumped from the tower to a lower floor of the building, police shocked him with a stun gun, and he fell to the ground. Seconds later he was taken into custody by Hollywood SWAT officers.
The man was identified by police as Travis Bernard, 27. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then
charged with felony criminal mischief by vandalism and trespassing, according to Hollywood Police.
At the Broward County jail, Bernard will be held for further medical evaluation, said Hollywood Police Officer Christian Lata, a spokesman.
A man was first seen atop the crane at 3 a.m. Sunday after a 911 call about noises coming from the construction site, Lata said in a news release.
“For over 10 hours officers, along with police negotiators, and SWAT team leaders encouraged Travis to safely climb down the crane,” Lata said in the release. “Travis refused to comply and climbed higher, eventually reaching the top of the crane.”
Officers continued to try to talk him down, Lata said, and at one point “created a hoist to give Travis food, water and clothing.”
During his time on the crane, the man repeatedly tossed objects from his perch, including rebar pieces of plastic and 100-pound metal weights used to balance the crane, Lata said.
At one point during the early afternoon, the man threw what seemed to be a metal plate that severed a frond from a palm tree before clanking to the ground.
Police used yellow scene tape to keep spectators well back from the base of the constriction project, a $190 million mixed-use development called Hollywood Circle.
The north side of Young Circle was also blocked to all traffic.
The man did not have a cell phone, but officials standing on the roof of the unfinished building were apparently able to communicate with him intermittently by talking loudly, Lata said.
Finally, at 1:29 p.m., the man, wearing shorts and a white shirt, started a descent that took him about eight minutes to complete. When he reached a deck near the ground, two SWAT officers were able to grab him.
At 1:42 p.m., the man was in handcuffs and walked to a squad car. He did not appear to be injured.
A woman who identified herself as the man’s mother and had been at the scene for hours was told by police to meet her son and officers at Memorial Regional Hospital.
Earlier in the day the woman, who declined to give her name or that of her son, said she was relying on her faith.
“I’m praying about it,” the woman said. “Amen.”
Jerry Muller, the manager of Uncle Buck’s, a nearby discount store, said that with traffic blocked all around Young Circle, his business had suffered. By noon on a Sunday, he has usually done about $500 worth of business, but this day sales had totaled no more than $45, he said.
Muller said the woman who identified herself as the man’s mother came into the store looking for clothes for her son, who sometimes appeared shirtless on the crane. Muller gave her a shirt and underwear, he said.
Hollywood Circle, at 1776 Polk St., features three towers, of 25, 21 and 11 stories, and includes 397 luxury apartments, a 104-room boutique hotel, shops, offices and a Publix supermarket, according to the developer’s website.