Author Topic: Murder suspect stays atop crane (Read 298 times)

Matrix Heart · « **on:** May 27, 2005, 07:12:41 AM »

Murder suspect stays atop crane
Man ignoring pleas from sister, negotiators

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A Florida man sought in his ex-girlfriend's beating death remained atop an 18-story crane early Friday, ignoring pleas of negotiators and his sister to give himself up.

Carl Edward Roland, 41, climbed the crane at an Atlanta construction site about 4 p.m. Wednesday. He has spent most of the time lying on a metal grate on the crane's arm.

"We have offered water and food to him, but he has not accepted either," Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said Thursday night.

At one point Thursday afternoon, Roland -- who has nothing securing him to the crane -- moved closer to negotiators who were trying to persuade him to descend. Then he moved back to his original spot on the arm of the crane.

"Please, I'm begging you, please come," shouted a woman who said she was Roland's younger sister, Towana. "Why won't they let me go up there? I had him almost down."

Police spokesman Sgt. John Quigley said negotiating teams have rules preventing them from allowing friends or family members to speak to someone who may be suicidal, fearing something they say could make the person act.

Authorities had planned to set up a net or airbag beneath the crane to catch Roland if he fell or jumped but decided he was too high for that to be effective.

Roland is wanted in Pinellas County, Florida, in the death of 36-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez, police said.

Gonzalez's badly beaten body was found Tuesday in a retention pond. Police in Pinellas County said Roland was seen with Gonzalez shortly before her death. After he did not return to his Clearwater, Florida, home, a warrant was issued Wednesday for his arrest.

Wednesday afternoon, Roland approached a construction worker at the site, in Atlanta's trendy Buckhead district, told him he had already committed a crime and "hurt someone," and demanded that the worker get out of the way, Pennington said. The worker did, and Roland scaled the crane -- and climbed out onto its horizontal arm. He is believed armed with "some type of knife," Pennington said.

At times, Roland appeared to nap or rest for a time on a small platform. Then he would walk along the frame of the structure. Earlier Thursday, he sidled over to authorities on another platform near the center of the crane's arm and accepted a jacket from them before moving farther out on the arm.

Pennington said police will continue efforts to coax Roland down for as long as it takes. "We want him to come down," he said. "I know he's told them he wasn't ready to come down."

He said the negotiators -- who are rotating every few hours as they try to persuade Roland to surrender -- are "outstanding."

Thursday morning, police were using sirens to keep Roland awake. While Pennington was speaking at a news conference, the sirens sounded about every two minutes.

"It's very dangerous to walk up on that platform without a harness," Pennington said. "It's extremely dangerous where he is."

The neighborhood's main artery -- Peachtree Road -- was closed near the site, snarling rush-hour traffic Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.

Roland apparently has an aunt or cousin in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Pennington said. Police were trying to contact them, as well as a brother of Roland's who lives out of state.

Roland's 1999 silver Toyota SUV was found at a bookstore near the construction site, Pennington said.

Roland's criminal history in Florida shows arrests for three misdemeanors, including driving under the influence, domestic violence-related battery and disorderly conduct, or fighting.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/27/crane.man/index.html