Posted on 05/27/2005 4:54:18 AM PDT by beaureguard
A Florida murder suspect began his second morning Friday atop a 25-story crane over Peachtree Street, dangling his feet and bringing the center of Buckhead to a standstill.
As the sun rose, police banged on the side of the crane and sounded sirens in an effort to keep Carl Edward Roland awake.
Far below, workers began arriving in hopes of resuming construction of the 19-story condominium.
Elton Taylor, an electrician from Mableton who was sent home without work on Thursday, drove in Friday morning hoping work could resume.
"Looks like it's not," he said. "This is starting to affect my paycheck. We can't work until this is over."
As the sun set Thursday, Roland had edged to the far end of the crane at a high-rise construction site and waved to onlookers below.
Police negotiators spent the day trying to coax the 41-year-old man from the structure, repeatedly sounding alarms to keep him awake. Authorities were prepared to take as much time as needed to get him down.
Roland's sister from southwest Atlanta tried to talk him down but was sent away when she got too emotional.
The drama, which began Wednesday afternoon, clogged traffic around Buckhead and kept gaggles of passersby and office workers looking skyward throughout the day.
A female voice atop the crane, probably a police negotiator, was heard several times calling out "Carl!" whenever he lay down on a small platform.
Roland carefully sidestepped back and forth along the crane, appearing at least twice to be ready to give up. But each time he moved back, away from negotiators.
At one point he moved to the far end of the crane, hanging almost over Peachtree, and waved to the crowds below.
The 6-foot-2, 240-pound man climbed the tower Wednesday after threatening a construction worker with a knife. He told the man to "get out of the way" because he had "already broken the law and hurt someone," Atlanta Police Richard Pennington said.
Roland, from Clearwater, Fla., is suspected of killing his former girlfriend, Jennifer Gonzalez, 36, whose strangled and beaten body was discovered Tuesday in a retention pond near her home in Oldsmar, Fla. Sometime during the week, he made his way to Atlanta. His abandoned vehicle was found parked a few blocks south of the construction site.
On Thursday, Roland refused offers of food and water throughout the day but took a police jacket the previous night as temperatures dipped to near 50 degrees.
The standoff shut down the construction site, where the crane hovered above the partially completed 19-story Ovation condominium, part of the Buckhead Plaza complex at the southwest corner of Peachtree and West Paces Ferry roads.
The incident also closed two long blocks of Atlanta's premier business district — Peachtree Street from West Paces Ferry on the north to Pharr Road on the south. The normally clogged thoroughfare remained empty Thursday except for police motorcycles, squad cars, fire trucks and the occasional lost motorist, who was immediately stopped by police and shooed away.
The scene took on a carnival-like atmosphere.
Tolga Akdogu, owner of Oxford Street, a men's clothing store, said he had not made any sales all day. He set up his wife's telescope and let passersby peer up at the scene above.
Across the street at The Cheesecake Factory, waitress Karla Fairchild and general manager Jim Zazzaro stood with coworkers looking up with binoculars at Roland.
"Only in Atlanta," Fairchild said. "Why are you going to come from Florida, where you did something wrong, to come here?"
At nearly 1 p.m., Fairchild said she had not waited on a table all day at one of Atlanta's most popular restaurants. She figured she lost at least about $120 in tips. Zazzaro did not want to estimate his restaurant's losses, except to say, "We're getting killed."
Fairchild, like many of those with their necks craned skyward, had her own ideas on how to get Roland down.
"They need Ashley Smith to talk him down; where is she?" she said, referring to the hostage who is credited with talking courthouse shooting suspect Brian Nichols into surrendering. Nichols is accused of killing four people March 11.
A young man walked past the scene Thursday and asked what was happening. The restaurant employees pointed up toward the crane, causing the man to wave his hand and say, "Jump."
It was an opinion that several gapers quietly urged. At least one passerby held a sign urging Roland to jump.
Others, like James Lake, who works in the area, said, "It's just ridiculous. I don't believe he deserves to live. This is a person who has brought a city to its knees for a long time."
In June, 2001, a man fell to his death from a 200-foot-high crane at a construction site on Piedmont Road after a 20-hour standoff with police.
Sgt. John Quigley, Atlanta police spokesman, said Thursday negotiators were prepared to talk to Roland as long as it takes. "We can take shifts; he can't."
Negotiators were not attempting to approach the suspect. "You don't want a situation where he grabs you and takes a plunge off the crane and takes you with him," Quigley said.
Tawana Roland, who said she is the suspect's younger sister, appeared at the site after getting a call from detectives. Police initially escorted her to the crane but soon asked her to leave and wait for them to call her.
But she did not leave. Instead, she tried to signal her brother atop the crane by reflecting sunlight off a large hand mirror that she borrowed from a nearby hair salon.
"Sugarfoot, it's your baby sister, please come down," the woman screamed, visibly upset. Tawana Roland, of southwest Atlanta, said she has not seen her brother in years.
Trammell Crow construction supervisor Joe Ackerman said there were about 300 workers involved in building the Ovation condos, which will range in price from the $170,000s to more than $300,000.
"I have to think he'll come down. It seems illogical for him to sit out there all night in the cold without sleep and then jump," Ackerman said. "But that's if you're thinking logically, and we have no way of knowing how logical he is."
Terri Earl-Kulkosky, chairwoman of behavioral sciences at Fort Valley State University, said that Roland had been on the crane for so long and hadn't jumped is a cry for help.
"Sometimes people put themselves in situations that they can't get out of," Earl-Kulkosky said. "It could be that he doesn't know what to do now."
The standoff was the talk of Atlanta, with radio stations making hay of the event. The morning crew at 790 The Zone mused about the need for snipers to end the drama.
Both WSB-TV and WAGA-TV had shots of the drama on taped delay to avoid any shots of a man falling to his death.
Yesterday it was only an 18-story crane.
"Get on with it, mate!"
Sniper Rifle,
+ Tranquilizer Dart
+ One BF Net
_____________________
Everyone back to work
Pretty good equation, AmExPat, minus the tranquilzer dart. The sniper rifle's "original equipment" would do just fine!
The APD are notoriously bumbling - remember the "green Honda" a few weeks ago during the courthouse killing spree? They have allowed this murderer to shut down a huge part of the city for 2 days running - people's livelihoods are seriously affected. All they are doing is babysitting this reprobate and giving him warm blankies. I live in the ATL, and am increasingly embarassed by our leadership.
Seriously - why isn't the tranquilizer gun being used or even considered - other than the fact Atlanta is run by morons?
What don't these knuckleheads understand about tranquilizer guns and drop nets?
Wanted to be considered a nice guy.
Of course, once he's down - hang him!!
is another reason needed??
I thought this had something to with Post #47
"http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts?page=47#47"
LOL! Had to think about that for a minute.
Why is everyone falling all over themselves with concern for this POS murderer? I don't get it.
Hang him? Sheesh, you make it sound like he ran away from a wedding.
Me thinks Buckhead needs to lean down and tell them how to reslove this mess :)
Boortz had a good suggestion yesterday.........ROTATE THE CRANE!
This is a major business district, and the idea that a nutcase murderer should be able to shut it down for an extended period like this is just ludicrous. End this thing as expeditiously as possible, with the least possible risk to police personnel.
Don't come up here or I'll jump! That's alright if you don't jump we're going to shoot yer ass!
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