Seattle has a situation. There is man… at the top of an 80ft city center tree… And he won’t come down.
The as-yet unidentified man climbed to the top of the sequoia tree right in the middle of downtown Seattle at approximately 11 a.m (local time) on Tuesday.
A rescue effort was quickly launched, the street was shut down, and firefighters attended the scene.
Negotiators have been unsuccessful in talking the man down from the tree, instead appearing to further frustrate the man who threw apples, branches and pine cones at them.
It’s still not clear who the man is, why he is in the tree, or what mental state he is in, but Seattle Police Department seem to believe “the issue” is between the man and the tree.
.@heyjessibrown There will likely be traffic impacts in the area, but issue appears to be between the man and the tree.
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) March 22, 2016
.@mirahwood Still under investigation. We’ve got negotiators en root.
— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) March 22, 2016
As is to be expected, social media users have been following this story closely and with great zeal. The Twitter conversation about the incident has ranged from concern over his health, to joy over his simple expression of defiance.
The police turned off the lights. #ManInTree responded by building a fort. I have never wanted a person to live more than this man.
— Nick Hilden (@LifeDoneWrite) March 23, 2016
RT if the first thing you did on waking up today was check to see if #ManInTree was still up there
— brian (@briancolella) March 23, 2016
#ManInTree now has a Twitter account, a crowd of spectators are reporting on his every move, and a live feed from the scene has been running on KomoNews.com for the last six hours.
#manintree wears a beard & flannel, loves apples, smokes cigs, & climbs trees? All of Seattle is wondering if it’s their friend up in a tree
— Daniel Crabtree (@dtree173) March 23, 2016
Who knows when this man will disembark the tree, but today’s weather report doesn’t look promising…
Seattle’s self-styled “real-life superhero”Phoenix Jones said he knows the man. Jones attempted to bring him some “supplies” (aka a beer and some smokes), but police stopped him before a ‘two-men-in-a-tree’ situation developed.
#ManInTree if this is not solved by 8 o’clock I will come up with a strategy and attempt to help. Sometimes only crazy can help crazy.
— Phoenix Jones (@ThePhoenixJones) March 23, 2016
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Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.