Officials find Trump Tower dangler after he jumped out of ambulance transporting him, Chicago police say
CHICAGO — The man who dangled from Trump Tower for more than 13 hours from Sunday into Monday then jumped out of a private ambulance taking him to another hospital was later found after a missing person’s report was made, according to Chicago police.
The man, 31, was being taken from Northwestern Memorial Hospital about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday just west of State Street on Washington Street in the Loop when he escaped, police said. He somehow jumped out of the ambulance.
A missing person’s alert for the man was sent out about 10 p.m. Chicago police found the man by 1 a.m. Wednesday, according to a law enforcement source. It’s unclear where he was located or where he went after escaping from the ambulance.
At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, a police SWAT unit and the Chicago Fire Department had responded to a call of a man threatening to kill himself at the Trump International Hotel & Tower, 401 N. Wabash Ave., in the Near North neighborhood, police said.
The man rappelled down the outside of the building; he was seen hanging by a rope several feet below the ledge to the right of the large “Trump” sign on the building, said Tom Ahern, a police spokesman.
Police negotiators spoke with the man from the balcony on the building, Ahern said.
Detective Hector Matias, one of the crisis negotiators, said while the man was hanging from the building with the harness, he threatened to use the knife to cut the rope if police tried pulling him up. Eventually, he surrendered the knife and was pulled to safety.
The man was taken to a hospital for mental health evaluation after he was pulled off the building, police said. He did not immediately face any charges related to the Trump Tower incident.
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