Men climb 200 foot crane to watch sun rise; police arrest them
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Updated: 11:35 PM Jul 8, 2009
Men climb 200 foot crane to watch sun rise; police arrest them
Officers say the men had been drinking. It took two hours to convince one of them to come down.
Posted: 9:55 AM Jul 8, 2009
Reporter: Mary Rinzel
Email Address: mary.rinzel@weau.com
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Police arrested two men after they decided to watch the sun rise from from the arm of a 200 foot crane.

Officers arrested Andrew Wagner, 25, and Blake Bergerson, 24, for criminal trespassing, obstructing an officer, burglary and recklessly endangering safety. Bergerson was also arrested for disorderly conduct and bail jumping.

Around 3:20 Wednesday morning, a security guard at Luther Middelfort called police after hearing voices in the hospital's construction site. Not long after they got there, officers saw the men 175 feet in the air. They told officers they wanted to check out the view and enjoy a sun rise. They picked a place that's very dangerous and illegal to get to.

"The construction site has fences and posted 'no trespassing' signs for a reason. Especially in a situation where you involve alcohol, heights, climbing, and having to engage in motor skills, you put yourself and others in a dangerous situation. Don't do it," says Officer Jason Kaveney with the Eau Claire Police Department.

Police say Wagner climbed down right away after officers used a megaphone-like device to call out to the two Eau Claire men. But, Bergerson wasn't as eager to come down.

"He would wave, he would say he had to make a phone call, he would make comments about how great the view was, and he just refused to come down," Kaveney says. "We're not going to go up into a crane like that and put an officer at risk. We're hopefully going to get the person to comply and come down so nobody gets hurt. After two hours, that's what happened."

But, not before the two men unscrewed light bulbs on the main stack of the crane and its arm, leading to charges of recklessly endangering safety.

"Those lights are crucial for aircraft, for Mayo 1 helicopter, for any aircraft that's flying low to see that crane. That's why they're there. We're very fortunate nobody got hurt, but somebody could've," Kaveney says.

Both Bergerson and Wagner were in court Thursday. They're both out on bond.


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