Man Falls to Death in TX After Police Standoff Atop Crane

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas (The Blaze/AP) -- Dallas police say a man who climbed a 150-foot construction crane at a college campus has fallen to his death, ending a 15-hour standoff.

Sr. Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez says the man died early Tuesday. His name was not immediately released and Gutierrez did not say why the man scrambled up the crane Monday afternoon.

Police sent tactical officers to the top of the crane, at Southern Methodist University. The man clambered out of the cab and dangled from it, holding on with only his hands, before falling at 1:47 a.m. Tuesday. KDFW-TV has more:

About 1:45 a.m., officers climbed the 150-foot crane to talk to the man, who was believed to be armed. Officers discovered the suspect had coated the door handle with some kind of greasy lubricant, and also sprayed a can of something similar at officers as they approached him.

When officers entered the cab, the man climbed out through the broken windshield and dangled from the bottom of the cab for about 15 seconds before falling to the ground below.

Police did not immediately say whether the man had a weapon, as he earlier claimed.

The crane towers over the campus in University Park, which was closed for Memorial Day.