ONLY ON ABC7NEWS.COM: San Francisco police detain man who jumped from rooftop to rooftop

Luz Pena Image
Monday, September 23, 2019
EXCLUSIVE: SFPD detain man who jumped from rooftop to rooftop
A man has been taken into custody after a standoff in San Francisco's Mission District where he jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A man has been taken into custody after a standoff in San Francisco's Mission District where he jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

Neighbors saw the shirtless man who according to witnesses refused to get down for multiple hours as San Francisco Police negotiators talked to him.

Holding on to the molding of the walls of this house after being caught jumping from one roof to the next, for approximately four hours a man had many in the Mission neighborhood concerned.

"He seemed like he had problems. No shoes, nothing. His pants were wet too," said Mission resident, Placido Oropeza.

Oropeza and his family had to evacuate their house where the unidentified man broke a window and cracked a second one, sat on his chimney and tried to get into one of the bedrooms while police surrounded him.

"My wife was going to go take a shower and that's when we found out that he was on the roofs. You could hear the steps? He was running all over the three houses, from that house all the way to my house," said Oropeza.

From 7:10 a.m. until close to 11 a.m., officers and crisis negotiators tried to speak to the man who refused to get down.

Chirs Sofis's daughter caught the moment when the man jumped on a tree and stayed there for two hours.

"With white bands around his wrist and ankle as if he had been previously in a hospital or an institution. He was not the most cohesive person," said Sofis.

After almost four hours of negotiations, the man jumped down.

Luz Pena: "Was he asking for help?

Palcido Oropeza: "No, the only thing he was asking for was water."

We showed the last minutes of the ordeal to Richard Corriea a retired San Francisco police commander and now USF Director of International Institute of Criminal Justice Leadership. While watching the video Corriea said, "The big key here is time and distance that's really it and options here. They are not trying to grab him or anything."

Corriea highlighted that officers followed de-escalation protocol.

"The first responders there gave this person the space that he needed to get through this crisis and didn't rush in or take some action that could make things worse. That being said if there's a risk to other folks you don't always have that option," said Corriea.

In a statement, SFPD said: "Upon arrival, officers were able to set a perimeter and detain the subject. The subject was admitted for a medical evaluation. No further details are available for release at this time."