California Highway Patrol officers have reopened the Antioch Bridge, also known as state Highway 160, after taking a man into custody following a lengthy standoff Tuesday morning.
"It appears that he attempted to jump, and it also appears he was able to be pulled back to safety, which is always a happy ending to a story like this," CHP Officer John Fransen said.
Responding officers closed the bridge to traffic in both directions for more than an hour and a half after receiving reports that a man, possibly armed, had stopped his vehicle in the northbound lanes of the bridge and walked to the ledge.
"We had reports that someone had stopped their vehicle in the northbound lane and had walked over to the railing, then we had other reports that there was somebody with a gun or a knife," Fransen said.
UPDATE: Man taken into custody on Antioch Bridge. No estimate on when bridge will reopen. http://t.co/47EKLUFUkG pic.twitter.com/ffxcj1WeM7
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) February 10, 2015Traffic alert: Antioch Bridge closed in both directions due to police activity. Updates here: http://t.co/Z4gpuPcZWP pic.twitter.com/4Bh7HC1UCj
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) February 10, 2015Fransen later said that officers on the scene did not recover any evidence confirming that the man was armed.
The call came in at 7:37 a.m. and responding officers shut the bridge down at the toll plaza at 8:07 a.m., according to Fransen. The man was safely taken into custody at 9:46 a.m. and the bridge was reopened to traffic by 10:10 a.m.
Fransen said this morning's incident was a successful collaboration involving the CHP, Antioch police, Oakley police and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office. The U.S. Coast Guard was also on scene to conduct search and rescue or provide first aid if the man had gone into the water below the bridge.
