Man Throwing Wood From Roof In Venice Brought In For Evaluation

VENICE, CA — Multiple separate reports of a man standing on a roof and a bus in the Venice area prompted police and mental evaluation unit response Monday night into Tuesday morning, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

According to the LAPD, officers responded to a radio call about a man on top of a Metropolitan Transit Bus near the area of Market and Main Streets in Venice at about 10:50 p.m. on June 19. Upon arrival, officers said they tried to speak with the man but he fled and climbed onto the roof of a nearby vacant building.

LAPD officers as well as the LA Fire Department continued to try to speak to the man and encourage him to come down from the roof to receive aid, authorities said.

"At one point in this interaction, the male subject, still on the roof, was seen throwing a piece of wood down onto the ground. None of the emergency responders or bystanders were in danger of being injured by the wood," the LAPD said in a statement.

Officers from the LAPD Mental Evaluation Unit responded to the incident and continued to try and communicate with the man while LAPD and LAFD disengaged from the situation, officials said. Continued efforts to communicate with the man by the Mental Evaluation Unit were unsuccessful, according to authorities.

About eight hours after the initial report, the LAPD received another report about the same man on the roof Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m.

"At this time, Pacific officers returned to the location and the male subject complied with the officer’s request to come down from the roof for help," the LAPD said.

The man was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, according to authorities.