Man falls to death from crane in Dallas standoff

A man sits in a crane 150 feet above the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, threatening to shoot the Dallas Police officers trying to talk him down, Monday, May 28, 2012. Special tactics officers from the Dallas Police Department were working with SMU campus police to manage the scene and try to talk the man down from the crane. No injuries had been reported. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, David Woo)

A man sits in a crane 150 feet above the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, threatening to shoot the Dallas Police officers trying to talk him down, Monday, May 28, 2012. Special tactics officers from the Dallas Police Department were working with SMU campus police to manage the scene and try to talk the man down from the crane. No injuries had been reported. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, David Woo)

A man sits in a crane 150 feet above the Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, threatening to shoot the Dallas Police officers trying to talk him down, Monday, May 28, 2012. Special tactics officers from the Dallas Police Department were working with SMU campus police to manage the scene and try to talk the man down from the crane. No injuries had been reported. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, David Woo)

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas (AP) ? A man dangled from the cab of a construction crane before falling 150 feet to his death at a college campus in Dallas early Tuesday, ending a more than 14-hour standoff, police said.

Police have yet to identify the man who spent a sweltering afternoon on the crane at the Southern Methodist University campus at University Park, fully exposed to the blazing sun with temperatures in the low 90s. The man warned officers that he was armed and would shoot anyone who approached him.

Two SWAT team members who climbed the crane around 1 a.m. Tuesday discovered the man had barricaded himself into the cab of the crane and covered the surrounding area with grease to prevent them from reaching him, Dallas Police Department said in a statement. The man then sprayed a grease "similar to WD-40" toward the officers, police said.

The man, who climbed the crane around noon Monday, pulled himself out of the cab and briefly hung from the crane ? clinging on with just his hands ? before dropping to his death at 1:47 a.m. Tuesday.

"The suspect is deceased," Sr. Cpl. Melinda Gutierrez said. Police did not say if any weapon had been recovered.

Police are investigating if the man was involved in an earlier robbery, the police statement said.

The University campus was closed for Memorial Day, but reopened Tuesday.

Associated Press

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