An Occupy Wall Street protester has finally come down from the 70-foot sculpture where he perched himself for hours Saturday morning.
The protester, identified as Dylan Farenhorst Spoelstra of Canada, climbed partway up the sculpture sometime in the 6 a.m. hour.
Spoelstra has been camped out in the park as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement for about two weeks, according to Pat Griese, an acquaintance of Spoelstra.
"He's making a point," said Griese, though he said Spoelstra perhaps was "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" for pulling the stunt.
Griese said he met Spoelstra two nights ago in the area. Before climbing the 70-foot-tall red steel sculpture Saturday morning, Spoelstra handed Griese his jacket.
"He said, 'Hey, Pat, hold my jacket,'" Griese said. "'I'm gonna climb that thing.'"
The jacket contained a book, a ball of twine and a citation for public urination issued at 3:14 a.m. Saturday.
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"He's really making a nuisance for everyone," Griese said of Spoelstra. "They're cutting down poles. They're moving all the little kids out of the way."
Small children have been at the park as part of Occupy Wall Street's Family Weekend.
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Spoelstra was non-confrontational with police, even shaking hands with an officer who rose up in an electric bucket to talk to him.
Spoelstra, wearing an orange short-sleeve shirt and a black and green scarf wrapped around his face, was seen doing sit-ups, and writing on the sculpture.
Spoelstra said he wanted to speak with the mayor and for 15 police officers to be removed from Zuccotti Park, where Occupy Wall Street protesters have been camped out for over a month.
Finally, shortly after 9 a.m., Spoelstra allowed himself to be taken down. He went into the police bucket, and was brought down to the ground.
His demands went unmet.
Spoelstra was quickly taken into custody once he was down on the ground and was sent to Bellevue Hospital Center for a psychiatric evaluation.
A police officer on the scene said Spoelstra was arrested, but it wasn't immediately clear if he will face criminal charges.
