101 Freeway reopens in downtown Los Angeles after police coax possible jumper from overpass
Both directions of the 101 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles were briefly closed Tuesday evening as police responded to a possible jumper, snarling traffic for miles on one of the nation’s most heavily traveled highways.
The California Highway Patrol said it closed the northbound lanes of the freeway at Main Street and the southbound lanes at Hill Street.
Los Angeles police officers had converged at the Main Street overpass, where a man had scaled the fence and was standing on a ledge above the roadway.
But shortly after 7 p.m., the CHP announced that the possible jumper was coaxed off the overpass and taken into custody. All lanes on the freeway were reopened by 7:15 p.m., authorities said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department had been dispatched to set up inflatable cushions on the freeway.
The particular stretch of the 101 Freeway sees on average more than 200,000 drivers per day, according to traffic data gathered in 2014 by the California Department of Transportation.
Twitter: @MattHjourno.
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UPDATES:
7:15 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.
This article was originally published at 6:40 p.m.
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