{"id":9040,"date":"2008-03-12T20:30:20","date_gmt":"2008-03-13T01:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/03\/12\/a-man-in-a-schenectady-tree-makes-"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:31","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:31","slug":"a-man-in-a-schenectady-tree-makes-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/03\/12\/a-man-in-a-schenectady-tree-makes-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"a man in a schenectady tree makes the news"},"content":{"rendered":"

[larger<\/a>] T<\/em><\/strong>he anchorman<\/a> and weatherguy<\/a> at Fox23News<\/a> in Albany [NY] were yukking it up a little after 10 PM last night, about a story out of Schenectady — a man who climbed a tree when confronted by the cops had refused to come down for several hours. It sounded interesting enough for me to seek out the tale this morning at the websites of our region’s two main newspapers, to see how the story ended. See “<\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font>Suicidal man in tree slows I-890 traffic<\/a>” and “Cops: man out of I-890 tree<\/a>” (Albany Times Union<\/em>, March 12, 2008); “Man pulled from tree after 11 hours<\/a>” (Schenectady Daily Gazette<\/em>, March 12, 2008; photo of man in tree<\/a>) As seems to happen more and more lately, the tale wasn’t quite so funny upon closer inspection.<\/p>\n

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all its leaves fallen
\na tree we were
\nforbidden to climb<\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

. . . . by paul m<\/a>. – from called home<\/a><\/em> (Red Moon Press 2006)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the Times Union<\/em> reported<\/a>, “Police said they initially received a phoned in complaint about someone urinating in the street. Officers responded but the man ran off and climbed the tree.” It was eleven hours before the man, who originally had two butcher knives and was threatening to harm himself with them, was brought down from the tree. According to the TU<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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“After over seven hours of coaxing, officers attempted to grab the man, but were unsuccessful when he stripped off his sweater. Clad only in a tee-shirt, the man grew colder over the next three hours. Officers offered him a blanket around 3:52 a.m., and grabbed him.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Gazette<\/em> adds<\/a>: “The 29-year-old man, whose identity has not been released, got within reach of rescue workers as he tried to accept an offered blanket. He was pulled into a fire department bucket [by the pants] just before 4 a.m., police said.” Although “the man never threatened anyone but himself,” there was a warrant out for his arrest, “for failure to pay a fine on a marijuana conviction.”<\/p>\n

\"ooh\" Here are a few more details that seem noteworthy (emphases added):<\/p>\n