Cops have captured a man who tried to scale the side of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan this afternoon after an hours-long standoff.
(ABC)- Responding officers yanked the man into the building around 6:35 p.m. after knocking out a full window pane on the 21st floor.
Hours after the incident, Trump thanked the NYPD for saving the climber.
Great job today by the NYPD in protecting the people and saving the the climber.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2016
The climber, using a contraption made up of five suction cups, scaled the 68-story building for over two hours. He was removed from Trump Tower on a stretcher.
The man started climbing at the 5th floor atrium, which is accessible to the public. it was not immediately clear why he climbed the building, but a police source said he was carrying leaflets indicating the climb was about self-promotion.
Police and the fire department responded to the scene and could be seen removing vents and breaking holes in windows of the building. Rescuers also deployed airbags in case the climber were to fall.
The man appeared to change his path at one point, shimmying sideways to avoid holes that police sawed into ventilation grates, where officers were leaning out. At one point he appeared to be talking to officers through a hole that cops had punched through a window.
NYPD Emergency Services officers had been trying to “safely isolate” the climber while talking to him, an NYPD official said, by making it difficult for him to continue climbing.