Man posing as T-Mobile worker climbed Miami cell tower, refused to come down
MIAMI - It was a nerve-wracking situation in Miami when a man climbed to the top of a cell tower and refused to come down.
Miami police said a T-Mobile worker was at the tower at NW 13th Avenue and NW 29th Street around 7 a.m. and noticed the power was shut off. After he turned it back on, he spotted a man on the tower.
"Like Spider-Man — he was dressed in black and red also," said Nami Zandy.
Zandy owns a business on Northwest 29th Street, and as he was heading to work this morning, he stumbled upon something bizarre.
"The whole street was blocked, and then suddenly we see this person up there climbing and disconnecting cables," said Zandy.
Zandy is talking about a man identified by police as 38-year-old Richard Smith, who started scaling a cell phone tower around 7 a.m. as stunned spectators watched from below.
"He's absolutely destitute of course, he's got his pants all ripped up, I can see that from here," said Christopher Curtis.
Police say they received a call from a T-Mobile worker, who told them Smith started climbing the cell phone tower. Smith told the actual T-Mobile worker that he worked for the company.
Then, Smith asked the worker to join him to enjoy the view.
"He tampered with the equipment up there. He threw things down. He wasn't listening to the officer's commands to come down. He was saying that I got a job to do, I gotta finish my job," said Mike Vega with the City of Miami Police Department.
For four hours, police negotiated with Smith until he finally decided to come down around 11 a.m.
"Once he was down, he shook hands with every officer that was there, and every firefighter that was there," said Vega.
Police say Smith also apologized when he came down.
It's still unclear why he climbed the tower, and those who watched are still stunned by the guy they're calling Miami Spider-Man.
"I'm not used to seeing people climbing up there. I've seen people climb the Eiffel Tower — climbing the Eiffel Tower — but this? No, never did," said Zandy.
Smith is charged with burglary of an unoccupied structure and criminal mischief.
According to the arrest report, Smith caused between $100,000 to $500,000 worth of damages and caused a wide range of cell phone outages for customers.
A representative from T-Mobile tells us overlapping coverage in the area will continue to ensure customers remain connected.