Freeway Closed Until Suicidal Man Relents
The Costa Mesa Freeway was briefly closed in both directions at McFadden Avenue in Tustin on Tuesday night as officials persuaded a man who was threatening suicide to come down off a freeway sign.
The man, whose name and age were not available late Tuesday, was spotted crouching on a freeway sign above the carpool lane at McFadden Avenue at 7:30 p.m.
Officials immediately closed the freeway in both directions.
They reopened the southbound lanes 25 minutes later, but kept all northbound lanes closed until 8:30 p.m., when police had the man safely in custody, CHP officials said.
Orange County Fire Authority officials responded to the scene with ladders and nets, and a Spanish-speaking hostage negotiator from the Santa Ana Police Department coaxed the suicidal man off the sign, officials said.
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