Man falls after jumping building to building trying to evade San Francisco officers

ByLauren Martinez KGO logo
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Man falls after jumping building to building to evade SFPD officers
Man falls after jumping building to building to evade SFPD officers

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A man caused quite a scene near the corner of Market and Gough.

San Francisco Police say around 9:40 a.m. Wednesday they responded to a call that a man was jumping into traffic.

When officers arrived the man fled and then jumped onto one of the buildings. For five hours police officers tried negotiating with him as he scaled from one building to the other.

Myell Mergart was walking to school when he first saw the man practically 60-70 feet high.

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"I was debating do I watch it or do I walk away? It's one of those things where you don't want to look at it and you don't want to follow-up but you're also so concerned," said Mergart.

At one point the man jumped on the awning of Nick's Foods and Liquor. The convenience store employee Senait Afewera said police told them they had to close while this was unfolding.

"Nobody was in and out. They closed it and no one could come. So basically I wish I took the day off," Afewera said.

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Just before 4 p.m., police say the man fell about 15 feet onto the sidewalk.

It appears the fall was from underneath an awning of a ground-floor building.

Police are not identifying him at this time.