Man on 110 Freeway overpass causes gridlock, is held by police

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

A man who appeared ready to jump off a downtown overpass brought traffic on the southbound 110 Freeway to a near standstill for about two hours Monday afternoon. Authorities said the gridlock spread onto stretches of the 101, 10 and 5 Freeways.

‘Horrible,’ is the only word California Highway Patrol Officer Tatiana Sauquillo could use to describe how bad traffic was.

Authorities were notified of the man, who they said had climbed the 7th Street Bridge over the 110 Freeway, shortly after 2 p.m. The CHP issued a SigAlert and closed all southbound lanes in the area except one as firefighters and a SWAT unit from the Los Angeles Police Department scrambled to the scene.

About 4 p.m., Sauquillo and a spokesperson for the LAPD said the man did not jump and had been taken into custody by authorities. The CHP said they were slowly reopening the closed lanes.

ALSO: Suspect in Indian reservation killings used drugs, police say

LAPD refuses to release video of fatal encounter with mother

Jenni Rivera’s musical family helped popularize Mexican narco-ballads -- Ari Bloomekatz and Dalina Castellanos