Local News in Brief : Suspect Pulled Off Ledge

A suspected forger who threatened to jump off a 21st-floor ledge after being questioned about $40,000 in bad checks was in custody Thursday on assault charges.

Mohammadreza Shafti, 20, broke a window of a high-rise office building in the Miracle Mile District and climbed out on the ledge. But he was captured before he could carry out his threat.

Shafti was booked at the Police Department’s Wilshire station for assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly heaving a chair at someone in the office.

LAPD officers and fire rescue units responded to the California Federal Bank Building, 5670 Wilshire Blvd., at 10:30 a.m., said Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells.

While bank investigators were talking to Shafti, he shattered a nearby window, leaped through the opening onto the ledge and yelled he would jump, Lt. David Gunning said.

When paramedics arrived, they talked Shafti into letting them treat him on the ledge for cuts and loss of blood suffered when he smashed the pane. A firefighter on a lifeline grabbed his arm, Gunning said, and officers helped pull him back through the broken window.