A man who climbed the transmission tower of Tyler, TX, CBS affiliate KYTX was safely removed by police just before the end of the station’s 6:00 p.m. news.
At around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon, a KYTX employee saw a man later identified as Claude Allen Lacy on the station tower. At the time, Lacy was approximately 50 feet up the tower. By the time police arrived, KYTX said he had climbed down to around 25 feet then slowly made his way back up the ladder as the afternoon progressed.
The station lead with the story on its 6:00 p.m. news. KYTX reporter Field Sutton was on scene at the tower located behind the station. KYTX devoted the last 20 minutes of the newscast to the stand-off between police and Lacy that ended with Lacy coming off the tower shortly before 7:00 p.m. You can watch the video of the incident after the jump.
The station said Lacy was taken into custody on a Peace Officer’s warrant and transported for a mental evaluation.
>UPDATE: KYTX news director Dan Delgado told TVSpy, Lacy remains under psychiatric evaluation and added, “It’s unfortunate that whatever is going on in this man’s life has driven him to this point. We are relieved that, in the end, he chose not to harm himself.”
Here’s the video of Lacy being taken off the tower.