Man taken into custody after standoff on Antioch Bridge

Bay City News
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Man in custody after standoff on Antioch Bridge
A distraught man has been taken into custody after he dangled from the Antioch Bridge.

ANTIOCH, Calif. -- California Highway Patrol officers have reopened the Antioch Bridge, also known as state Highway 160, after taking a man into custody following a lengthy standoff this morning.

"It appears that he attempted to jump, and it also appears he was able to be pulled back to safety, which is always a happy ending to a story like this," CHP Officer John Fransen said.

Responding officers closed the bridge to traffic in both directions for more than an hour and a half after receiving reports that a man, possibly armed, had stopped his vehicle in the northbound lanes of the bridge and walked to the ledge.

"We had reports that someone had stopped their vehicle in the northbound lane and had walked over to the railing, then we had other reports that there was somebody with a gun or a knife," Fransen said.

Fransen later said that officers on the scene did not recover any evidence confirming that the man was armed.

The call came in at 7:37 a.m. and responding officers shut the bridge down at the toll plaza at 8:07 a.m., according to Fransen. The man was safely taken into custody at 9:46 a.m. and the bridge was reopened to traffic by 10:10 a.m.

Fransen said this morning's incident was a successful collaboration involving the CHP, Antioch police, Oakley police and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office. The U.S. Coast Guard was also on scene to

conduct search and rescue or provide first aid if the man had gone into the water below the bridge.