A 38-year-old man was arrested this Wednesday morning after climbing a cell phone antenna in Miami, turning it off and remaining at the top of the tower for several hours.
The subject, who was wearing a red sweater, torn pants and carrying a Bible at his waist, remained perched in the place for hours, releasing the cables that connect the energy to the tower.
Authorities believe that the subject - who has been identified as Richard Smith- would have gone up to the antenna between 1:00 and 5:00 a.m.
According to preliminary information, A T-Mobile supervisor alerted a worker that they had a tower down at approximately 5:00 a.m.
The worker moved up to the antenna around 6:00 a.m., saw that it had been manually turned off, and He came face to face with Smith, who would have said good morning to him.
Miami police spokesman Mike Vega explained in statements to America Camel that during the conversation Smith told his interlocutor to go even higher so that he could see Miami from above.
“The subject began to talk about God, but what the employee did was call the police and from 7 a.m. “We started negotiating with him to get him to go down.”said the police spokesperson.
Vega added that although a team of negotiators persuaded him for several hours to come down, The man answered that he couldn't because “he had to finish his work.”
It was around 11:00 a.m., about four hours after the arrival of the police and firefighters, that the subject finally decided to go down on his own.
Once on the ground, he thanked the agents who were present at the scene and said he felt dehydrated.
The curious incident forced the temporary closure of a section of Northwest (NW) 29th Street between NW 12th and NW 14th Avenues, affecting merchants in the area.
Miami firefighters, who were present with the police during the event, brought their technical rescue team to the scene.
Orange City resident Richard Smith was arrested on charges including criminal trespass and criminal damage.
Authorities don't know why he decided to climb the tower, but they said He appears to have experience climbing or working with cell phone towers due to the ease with which he moved.
The case remains under investigation and still It is unknown if the subject suffers from any mental health problems.
According to the arrest report, Smith caused damages ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, as well as causing extensive disruption of cell service for customers until the damage can be repaired.
Neighbors in the area told local media that they had seen the man hanging around the area hours before the incident.
As of the closing of this note, there are no other details about the singular event.
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