An Occupy Wall Street protester climbed atop a two-story tall sculpture in Zuccotti Park early Saturday and refused to come down “until Mayor Bloomberg resigns,” forcing a three-hour stand-off with cops. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Dylan Spoelstra, a 24-year-old Canadian who protesters described as “a little off,” scaled the 40-foot-high statue just before 7 a.m.
Dozens of cops and a hostage negotiation team sealed off the area surrounding the statue and placed giant air bags below it.
Then, an Emergency Services Unit officer went up on a motorized cherry picker from the back of a bucket truck and began to talk with Spoelstra about 7:30 a.m.
The officer handed Spoelstra, decked out in an orange Baltimore Orioles tee shirt, a black scarf and black pants, a specially-designed phone that allowed him to speak directly with a hostage negotiator.
Still, Spoelstra refused to leave his perch. He occassionally yelled unintelligibly at the protesters below and at one point exchanged a high-five and fist-bump with the cop.
Spoelstra finally agreed to come down at about 9:15 a.m. He was lowered in the bucket and loaded into an ambulance, cuffed behind his back. Charges were pending.
“He’s not the sharpest knife in the draw,” said fellow protester Pat Griese, who met Spoelstra days earlier.
“He didn’t seem drunk or high to me. He just seemed a little off.”
