Emergency service police officers patiently moved slowly closer to a man standing on the roof of a Brooklyn train station before grabbing him after a seven-hour standoff on Wednesday, police say.
The distraught man who stood on the roof of the Flushing Avenue and Broadway elevated train platform for seven hours Wednesday — forcing nearby Woodhull Hospital to reroute ambulances during this COVID-19 pandemic.
The high drama brought traffic in that busy intersection to a standstill and resulted in the shut down the M and J lines outside the hospital beginning at 10 a.m. and lasting to about 5 p.m.
The man, wearing light-brown pants and a blue hoodie that read “Only New York International,” was sitting atop the train station roof and at times walking back and forth on the station staircase roof.
Hundreds of passers-by surrounded the scene, taking selfies and video on their phones for most of the day. Police placed a large air-bag on the sidewalk beneath the man as they tried to convince the man to come down.
Traffic was snarled around Woodhull Hospital that is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. Police finally were able to grab the man, and took him to a psychiatric facility for evaluation. He was not identified.
