A 58-year-old man climbed a cell tower near his home in Hialeah, Florida, and refused to come down for six hours.
Pablo Torres began climbing the cell tower next to the Milander Center, near Palm Avenue and 45th Street in Hialeah at around ten in the morning on Friday, Oct. 19.
Hialeah police were called around 10 a.m. When they arrived, they found Torres partway up the tower and in no mood to come back down.
For whatever reason, Torres seemed bent on reaching the top—which he did, around noon.
Torres had no safety gear and no climbing gear. He did have a rope and a yellow bag. He also brought a cell phone.
Literally Trying to ‘Talk Him Down’
Police closed off the roads around the cell tower, then called in the negotiation specialists. The mediation team tried to convince Torres to come down by talking with him on his cell phone, but the gentleman was not interested in complying.
His relatives called him around 10 a.m. but no one answered. Shortly after, the Hialeah Police called, telling them the police had found Torres.
The family feared for his mental health, his relatives told Fox News. “I don’t know, he’s kind of, he’s sick,” said family member Maria Weiner.
Another relative, Mylene Gonzalez, told Fox, “I don’t know, really I don’t know what happened to him.”
After police negotiators had no luck talking to Torres, they brought his mother down to the tower to help. Torres wouldn’t listen to his mother either.
What Goes Up …
After several hours of debate, police decided that they could not count on Torres coming down on his own. The only solution, it seemed, would be to send a climbing team up after him.
That proved to be the impetus which moved the wayward climber. When police officers started up the tower shortly before 3 p.m., Torres decided he might as well climb down to met them halfway.
When he was low enough, officers put him in the basket of a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue ladder truck. A few minutes later, and Torres was on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance and on the way to a hospital for reexamination and observation.
“We want to first thank Miami-Dade County Police, Miami-Dade County Fire, Hialeah Fire, our officers, our members of our negotiation team that worked for hours speaking with this man to finally bring this to a peaceful resolution,” said Hialeah Police Sgt. Eddie Rodriguez told Fox news..
When he is released from the hospital, assuming he is found competent, Torres will face charges of robbery and trespassing.
