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Woman arrested for climbing 285-foot cell tower in northern Ohio

Posted at 12:02 PM, Jul 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-27 13:42:28-04

Dozens of first responders and onlookers watched a scary situation unfold as a woman was seen scaling a 285-foot cellular tower Thursday night, according to police.

Streets in the area of Oak Hill and Miltown roads were closed and traffic was detoured as authorities tried to get the woman to climb down from the tower.

After a three-hour ordeal, police took the woman into custody after she descended from the tower on her own, according to the Wooster Daily Record.

“[She] has been very animated the entire time that she’s been there. She’s been jumping from one beam to the next, essentially taunting the first responders that are on the scene,” Hunter said. “… The sad thing about this situation is we have a person who, based on her actions, I believe she’s under the influence of drugs of some type because she demonstrates absolutely no fear at all," said Captain Doug Hunter, of the Wayne County Sheriff's Department, to the Wooster Daily Record.

A female officer was on the ground trying to talk to the woman over a loudspeaker, according to the Wooster Daily Record.

“She’s 285 feet up without any type of safety equipment and has been jumping from one part of this structure to the next while those that are taking on the task of rescuing her are using every available piece of safety gear and being very deliberate and cautious on what they’re doing," Hunter said.

It's unclear how she reached the base of the tower because it sits behind a fence topped with barbed wire.

Local media said the woman made several requests for her boyfriend to come to the scene. Officials did not believe she was suicidal.

The woman was charged with inducing panic, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, according to police.