A man who was carrying a backpack when he scaled the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, allegedly after claiming to have a bomb and prompting an evacuation of the pier, remained jailed Tuesday on suspicion of criminal threats and other offenses.
The Santa Monica Police Department identified the man as Juan Gonzalez, 37, of Garden Grove. He was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to sheriff’s jail records.
Police said Gonzalez was booked on suspicion of criminal threats, making a false bomb threat to authorities and resisting arrest.
Officers were dispatched about 2:40 p.m. Monday to the pier, on reports of someone climbing the Ferris wheel while carrying a dark-colored backpack. Witnesses told police the man claimed to be carrying a bomb before he started scaling the lattice-work of the 130-foot-tall Ferris wheel.
The man climbed about two-thirds of the way up the wheel. Police said about 10 riders were on the wheel at the time, and fire crews used a bucket truck to evacuate them while negotiators tried to talk the man down. The Pacific Park amusement park and the pier were both closed to the public.
“Gonzalez was very agitated and upset and continued to make bomb threats to the officers negotiating with him,” police said in a statement Tuesday. “The incident lasted for more than an hour before Gonzalez climbed down low enough for officers to take him into custody. Gonzalez was not in possession of an explosive device or any other weapons.”
Gonzalez was taken into custody just before 4:30 p.m.