SAN DIEGO : Man Atop Stadium Surrenders to Police

An agitated and apparently despondent 45-year-old concessionaire at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium was rescued by police after he paced atop the stadium’s roof for the entire nine innings of the Padres-New York Mets baseball game Sunday afternoon, San Diego police said.

The man initially told co-workers at the stadium Sunday morning that he needed to have his family brought to him to talk, authorities said. The next thing employees knew, the man had climbed to the upper roof of the stadium, above right field, police Sgt. Bob Nunley said.

By the time the game started at 1:05 p.m., police were trying to talk the man down from his post, apparently with most of the 19,889 people in attendance oblivious to the rooftop standoff.

Ultimately, the man’s family was brought to the stadium, and, as a show of good faith that he would not jump, the man tied himself to a railing with a rope, Nunley said.

After talking with his family members--and after the game had ended--the man was escorted off the roof by police without further incident, and taken to the county’s mental health office for observation, authorities said.