Dude in a tree. WTF.

[picksthemusic]

Not much more is known about him, but at least he's down.





www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/man-spends-night-in-80-foot-tree-in-downtown-seattle-builds-makeshift-nest/

After about 24 hours of rebuffing police negotiators, a man who climbed the tree outside the downtown Macy’s is back on the ground.



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By Evan Bush

Seattle Times enterprise producer

A man who climbed an 80-foot tree outside the downtown Seattle Macy’s Tuesday morning and stayed there overnight has climbed down, to cheers from a gathered crowd.



He spent a few minutes sitting on the ground at the foot of the tree before medics loaded him onto a stretcher.





“#ManInTree is now on the ground and in contact with police. Officers still in speaking with him and working to safely resolve this incident,” the Seattle Police Department tweeted.



The man was at the top of the more than 80-foot sequoia for a little more than 24 hours, keeping Seattle police negotiators in what a spokesman called “a holding pattern.” When he climbed down just before noon, police had several streets blocked, including Olive Way and Stewart Street between Third and Fifth avenues.



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Seattle police Lt. David Drain said the man had arranged branches torn from the tree to sit on. He was not sure if the man slept during the night. Police on wednesday morning continued to talk with the man from the window of the Macy’s building adjacent to the tree.



Some nearby downtown streets were blocked early Wednesday, but started to open back up just after 6 a.m. Northbound Sound Transit Express routes 510/512 and 511/513 were rerouted, missing stops at Fourth Avenue and Pike Street and at Sixth Avenue and Olive Way.



Several onlookers Wednesday morning expressed the same sentiment: “He’s still up there?”



Ted Jansen stopped to watch Tuesday, thinking at first that the helicopters he’d seen overhead were there because of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s visit to town. He said he returned early Wednesday, surprised that the man had endured through the night.



“We can’t spread out the trampolines and get out the tranquilizer gun as if he’s a bear … We’ll just have to wait him out,” Jansen said Wednesday morning.



John Killorin, who was visiting from Denver, said he learned of the man in the tree from a hotel worker. His Ride the Ducks tour was diverted Tuesday, he said.





Killorin on Wednesday morning said he felt bad for “these poor police officers wasting their time.”



“I think he’s just going to climb down. Hopefully, he’s not too tired to do so. Can you imagine hanging up there?”



At one point Wednesday morning, the man yelled from the treetop: “How much taxpayer money are you wasting? It’s not an emergency!”

[picksthemusic]

Mar 23, 2016 14:06:29 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

I saw this in my FB feed and first thought it was an Onion headline and then I saw it was Seattle and it made sense.

ETA: the NYT headline, the one that appeared in FB, was "Seattle Man Perched in Tree is Hero to Many, Headache for Police." lol

Right? Only in Seattle.

[OscarQ]

Mar 23, 2016 14:04:29 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

“#ManInTree is now on the ground and in contact with police. Officers still in speaking with him and working to safely resolve this incident,” the Seattle Police Department tweeted.


“We can’t spread out the trampolines and get out the tranquilizer gun as if he’s a bear … We’ll just have to wait him out,” Jansen said Wednesday morning.

Tears!  The hashtag!  The trampolines, tranquilizer gun and bear quote!

Oh Seattle!  You're like hippie, crunchy Florida sometimes.

[picksthemusic]

I was also thinking - he probably has to take a shit and figured he couldn't do that in a tree.

[madDawg228]

Mar 23, 2016 14:19:42 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I was also thinking - he probably has to take a shit and figured he couldn't do that in a tree.

According to The Stranger he didn't have that issue:  www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/03/23/23842675/seattles-now-famous-manintree-is-still-up-there

eta:  Although, the Man In Tree has been reportedly throwing down tree branches, pinecones, orange peels, and an apple at medics. He dropped a few other things, too. From The Washington Post:

Police told the Seattle Times that they were concerned about the man’s mental health and did not want to rush the rescue lest it jeopardized his safety. ...
Scott Bonjukian, who works on the seventh floor of a building next to the tree, wrote in an email to The Washington Post that he was alerted to the man when he heard a police officer yelling at him through a bullhorn.
“We watched for several hours as police tried to talk him down,” Bonjukian said. “It was somewhat funny until he started ripping off limbs and defecating.”

[debatethis]

Great, now I am going to have that Sunday School song about Zacchaeus in my head.

[WOT?*]

Mar 23, 2016 14:22:04 GMT -5 madDawg228 said:

Mar 23, 2016 14:19:42 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

I was also thinking - he probably has to take a shit and figured he couldn't do that in a tree.

According to The Stranger he didn't have that issue:  www.thestranger.com/slog/2016/03/23/23842675/seattles-now-famous-manintree-is-still-up-there

eta:  Although, the Man In Tree has been reportedly throwing down tree branches, pinecones, orange peels, and an apple at medics. He dropped a few other things, too. From The Washington Post:

Police told the Seattle Times that they were concerned about the man’s mental health and did not want to rush the rescue lest it jeopardized his safety. ...
Scott Bonjukian, who works on the seventh floor of a building next to the tree, wrote in an email to The Washington Post that he was alerted to the man when he heard a police officer yelling at him through a bullhorn.
“We watched for several hours as police tried to talk him down,” Bonjukian said. “It was somewhat funny until he started ripping off limbs and defecating.”

Uh, yeah. A hero to some?

I'm leaning toward mental illness, but definitely not a hero. Not if that shit (literally) is landing on my head.

[7costanza]

I saw this guy on my lunch break yesterday, he was REALLY high up there. I'm just glad he didn't fall out.

[pixy0stix]

Remember when Rage Against the Machine's band member climbed the prop at the MTV music video awards? This reminds me of that. Without the defecation.

[imojoebunny]

They will now turn their attention to "building a wall" around the tree.

[MixedBerryJam]

Mar 23, 2016 14:04:29 GMT -5 picksthemusic said:

...

Ted Jansen stopped to watch Tuesday, police officers wasting their time.”...

I read this story hours ago and it only just dawned on me that Ted Jansen =/= Ted Danson. It made perfect sense in my head ... Sam Malone was in Seattle visiting Frasier Crane. Duh.

[emisi]

Hostage negotiators? Who was he holding hostage, himself? Let him stay up there.

I admit, I'm kind of picturing this: