San Francisco police on Friday released video showing officers' initial attempt to arrest a man who climbed beneath the Bay Bridge earlier this month, a confrontation that ended only after the driver resurfaced and was taken into custody. The incident briefly shut down the bridge during the evening commute.
Police said the chain of events began with a traffic stop. The driver sped onto the Bay Bridge, pulled over, got out of the vehicle and climbed over the side of the span, prompting the shutdown that disrupted traffic before the situation was resolved. After hiding for a period of time, the man climbed back onto the bridge and officers arrested him. Authorities said he was not injured.
The video gives a clearer picture of how quickly the stop escalated from a routine traffic encounter into a major disruption on one of the region's busiest crossings. It also answers the question left by the bridge closure: the man did not remain below the span, and police eventually brought the situation to an end without injury.
What the footage does not change is the central fact of the case — a traffic stop became a bridge closure during the evening commute, and the driver’s decision to leave the vehicle and climb over the side turned a roadside encounter into a prolonged police response.