San Jose Crane Climber Ends 14-Hour Standoff After Being Offered Burrito

After spending 14 hours on top of a 9-story-high crane at a construction site, a homeless man in San Jose was coaxed down from the cab he was perched in after he was promised a burrito.

The man, who has been identified as 39-year-old Alam Skandar, was described by police who responded to the incident as despondent and incoherent.

“He’s despondent, he’s at times incoherent. His sobriety’s in question, so that’s what basically we know at this point,” said San Jose police Lt. Eduardo Pedreira before Skandar climbed down from the crane.

While police were surrounding the crane, Skandar yelled down to them, telling them about his difficulties of being without a home.

“I’m homeless. I haven’t been fed. I’m cold.”

Skandar’s stunt drew more than just a police response. Neighbors, other members of the homeless community, and a pastor gathered at the scene.

The crane was at a construction site for a new apartment building, meant to be affordable housing for residents of San Jose with an income of $42,000 to $67,000 a year.

Many other homeless people in San Jose sympathized with the struggles he was speaking about, such as Carmel Juarez, 44, who sleeps in a homeless camp along the Guadalupe River, and shared their own opinions with the San Jose Mercury News.

“I don’t blame him. Someone needs to do something. No one’s listening to us.”

One neighbor, 45-year-old Shawnn Cartwright, stayed on the scene overnight to make sure Skandar got down safely and told the San Jose Mercury News that this case is representative of the homeless crisis in San Jose.

“To some degree, him being up there represents what others are going through. If you think about it, he’s symbolic of what’s wrong with San Jose.”

Police took Skandar to county jail, where he was charged with trespassing the construction site in San Jose.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, during an interview at the jailhouse, Skandar reportedly said that he wanted to climb the crane for attention because there were “a lot of things going on in my life that need looking into.”

Skandar also revealed that he had not been in San Jose for long when he saw the American flag waving from the top of the crane and decided to break into the construction site.

Skandar was given a psychological evaluation, from which authorities determined there is no need to consider him threatening to himself or others.

Though the number of homeless people in San Jose has gone down 14 percent in the last year, there are still just over 6,500 homeless living in Santa Clara County.

The construction site was closed during the standoff.

[Photo by Katie Utehs/ABC 7 News Bay Area via Twitter]