Woman climbs down from crane in downtown L.A. after a standoff with police and firefighters

A woman scaled a crane Tuesday afternoon at a downtown Los Angeles construction site and locked herself inside the cab, drawing firefighters and police to respond to a report of a possible jumper.

The roughly 150-foot crane is in the 100 block of West Cesar Chavez Avenue, near Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument, according to L.A. Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart.

Workers at the construction site shut down power to the crane, Stewart said.

Police and fire personnel escort a woman down the steps of a construction crane.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

During the more than three-hour standoff, the woman had left the crane’s cab and stood near its edge. At about 7:30 p.m., a small team of firefighters and SWAT officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were able to convince the woman to reenter the crane’s cab and eventually be escorted down the crane to safety.

The woman was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, police said.

It’s still unclear why the woman climbed up the crane.

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Twitter: @MattHjourno

UPDATES:

8:20 p.m.: This story was updated with the woman being escorted off of the crane.

This article was originally published at 5:15 p.m.