TULSA, Okla. – A man who climbed an Oklahoma TV transmission tower spent a fifth day up there Monday while the spectacle at ground level expanded, a public response that a mental health expert decried as callous.
The 25-year-old man climbed onto the Clear Channel communications tower Thursday and has refused requests to come down, though he has had regular interaction with police.
"He's talking to us about coming down, but he's not yet ready," police Capt. Ryan Perkins said Monday. "He's just scared."
Tulsa police said the stalemate -- approaching 100 hours Monday afternoon -- was the longest in city history.
On the ground, a local television station offered streaming video on the Internet, a number of Twitter hashtags popped up and a restaurant offered a Tower Guy five-topping pizza to mark the man's fifth day aloft. The climber lost one of his shoes during the weekend, and someone who claimed to have retrieved it was selling the shoe online.
Mike Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, equated the host of negative online comments to a drive-by shooting: "I don't have to take any responsibility; I can basically say what I want."
Tulsa police identified the climber only as "William," and video from the tower showed him on a metal lattice about 100 feet up. He wore shorts and a pair of bright red socks in temperatures that climbed well into the 90s since Thursday. At times, the man shouted to the dozens of officers and gawkers below. There appeared to be ample metal on the lattice for him to recline and take a nap.
The online TV feed went dark Monday, which KOTV news director Ron Harig said was so station resources could be used on other stories. He said the station planned to return to the tower to continue covering the standoff.
Angel Aristone, a Clear Channel spokeswoman, said Monday that the company's staff in Tulsa "found an unidentified man breaking and entering into a clearly marked unauthorized area on our property," called police and have been cooperating with authorities on rescue efforts since Thursday.
Perkins said officers were concerned for the man's well-being because the last time he took water was early Friday morning. He has repeatedly been offered food and water, but has rebuffed them, Perkins said.
Meanwhile, area residents flocked to the tower. David Miles watched for the previous four days and said he stopped by again Monday because he didn't have anything else to do. Resident Christopher Drake, who was in South Dakota when he found out about the situation on Facebook, thought that the man would surely be down by the time he returned to Tulsa on Monday.
"You got to kind of wonder what's going on in his head," said Drake, who snapped several photos of the man. "I don't know how much longer he's going to last."
Dustin Gann and a buddy backed up their red SUV so they could get a view.
"He'd probably come down if everybody would just go away," Gann offered, sipping a soda.
Trish Montgomery, who owns a dance studio with a view of the tower, was among those who didn't seem interested in watching.
"I don't know why it's such a big deal," she said. "I think it's just sad. It's somebody else's heartache."
Film at 11.... 😲
