WATCH: Man climbs cell tower in Miami, refuses to come down
MIAMI, Fla. (WFLA) — Police and fire officials in Miami surrounded a cell tower on Wednesday for a report of a man who climbed up and refused to come down.
Aerial footage from NBC affiliate WTVJ showed an unidentified man scaling the structure without a harness. Officials think he started climbing sometime between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
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A Miami Fire Rescue spokesperson told the outlet he impersonated a T-Mobile employee to access the tower. Police said he managed to shut the power off at the bottom of the tower, which means T-Mobile coverage may be spotty in the area.
The carrier called in a worker at around 5 a.m. to see why the power was off. The worker called police after encountering the man, who reportedly told the worker “good morning” and kept climbing.
Officials believe the man may have experience climbing or working on cellphone towers because of how he is navigating around the structure. They will attempt a high-angle rescue to lower him to safety, but police said he told them he wasn’t “done working yet.”
Firefighters and a crisis negotiation team managed to get him down safely.
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