Another Traffic Nightmare On George Washington Bridge After Man Climbs NJ Tower
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For the second time this week, traffic was brought to a standstill on the George Washington Bridge Friday when a man climbed the New Jersey tower, shutting down all lanes on the upper level of the bridge.
It all started around 8:15 a.m. when a 54-year-old man, identified as Alberto Hernandez of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, started climbing the outside of the Jersey tower, which stands 600 feet above the Hudson River.
PHOTOS: Climber Shuts Down George Washington Bridge
Hernandez parked his car on the bridge, ran to the tower and quickly started to climb the outside of the structure, showing amazing strength and agility, Aeillo reported.
"He was in really good shape. As far as physically, he was in good shape, mentally, not so," Vincent Zapulla, with Port Authority police, said.
A delivery driver told CBS2 that Hernandez was operating his vehicle erratically before he pulled over.
He eventually gained access to the inside of the tower and made his way to the top.
Special Port Authority and NYPD units responded.
Images from the scene showed Hernandez, shirtless, standing at the corner of the top of the tower as winds whipped up to 30 mph.
"These are the most dangerous jobs that you can perform. Such a high elevation on such a small platform," NYPD Dep. Chief Vince Giordano said.
Eventually, police said Det. Raul Gonzalez from the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit 2 started a dialogue with him before Det. Brandon Watson and Det. Raul Gonzalez were able to grab him and pull him down to the deck's floor.
"He informed me that he has lost his job, he's in danger of losing his home," Gonzalez said. "At which time, I informed him that there's ways in which we can try and help him, and that basically him being absent from his family is more detrimental."
The disturbed man was taken to Bergen Regional Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. He was charged with defiant trespass and disorderly conduct.
The incident brought traffic to a halt and caused 90-minute delays during the morning rush, frustrating drivers for the second time this week. There were major delays Wednesday morning when protesters from an immigrant rights group blocked traffic.
"Throw him in jail! Plain and simple," said driver Paul Teliszewski.
"It's not great," said driver Sam Zaturoska. "Second time this week so I'm just trying to get to work."
"Very frustrating," said driver Sue Sallemi. "Work's not gonna be happy."
The backup spilled onto side streets and back roads in Fort Lee.
The bridge is patrolled by the Port Authority police and by private security contractors.
The NYPD's Special Operations Division tweeted pictures of Friday's incident, saying, "Excellent work by #NYPD #ESU negotiating w/ and placing the EDP jumper safely into custody."
One of the pictures included in the tweet was from several months ago and showed Port Authority and NYPD officers training for just this sort of bridge rescue.
Police have stopped suicide attempts at the George Washington Bridge 61 times in 2016, Aiello reported.
The incident raised serious concerns about bridge security and how the climber was able to bypass the fence and cage at the tower base.
CBS2 wanted to know what Gov. Chris Christie thought about the incident, but he refused to answer.
