San Francisco Tower Climber, "Spider Dan," Cited for Public Nuisance, Trespassing

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) The man known as "Spider Dan," who police say scaled a 58-story San Francisco skyscraper Monday and unfurled an American flag at the top, has been cited for public nuisance and trespassing.

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Officials said that "Spider Dan" is veteran skyscraper climber Dan Goodwin, a 54-year-old Lake Tahoe resident with other climbing credits including Chicago's Sears Tower, according to CBS radio affiliate KCBS.

San Francisco prosecutors say they have not yet received the case nor decided whether to formally charge Goodwin.

Goodwin used suction cups but no ropes to scale Millennium Tower, a 645-foot residential building overlooking San Francisco Bay, and police say he ignored orders to stop climbing.

Goodwin was too high to reach by the time firefighters arrived at the building, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.

Goodwin reached the top just before 5:30 p.m., about three hours after he began. He affixed an American flag to the building before surrendering to waiting authorities.

In a statement posted on a website purportedly run by Goodwin, he writes that he climbed the building to call attention to what he described as the ongoing vulnerability of skyscrapers to terrorist attacks.

He also said he wanted to inspire patients battling cancer, which he said he overcame to continue climbing.