A dramatic video from the San Francisco Police Department shows a man clinging to the edge of the Bay Bridge earlier this month as he tried to evade authorities who were chasing him.
On April 1, SFPD was notified of a person driving a stolen vehicle from South San Francisco that was sighted near Eighth and Market streets, the department said in the video. As a police drone started to follow the car, the driver stayed on city streets for nearly 30 minutes.
The suspect refused to obey police commands to pull over, even driving over spikes that authorities had deployed; he then entered the Bay Bridge before stopping near the Treasure Island exit, exiting the car and climbing over the bridge, police said.
Police drones spotted the man dangling “precariously” from crossbeams under the bridge as multiple agencies rushed in to try and capture him. Video footage shows him gripping the lower edge of the beams above the water.
Traffic also appeared to be halted on the bridge with multiple police cars and emergency vehicles on the scene. Near the end of the standoff, the man hid inside a support beam for several minutes before climbing back onto the bridge, the police video said.
Robert Rueca, a spokesperson for SFPD, told KTVU-TV that the suspect eventually “gave himself up.”
The man was arrested and booked into custody “without incident,” SFPD said in the video.