Monday, December 16, 2002

I'm back home. But what a welcome.

I went to school with this boy - he was in my French class for three years, and I also was in the school play with him for three years. He graduated two years before me, when I was a sophomore. I last saw him in June, at Sarah's wedding... Mary Louise called me to give me the news. Here's what happened. I'm cutting and pasting from KHOU, a local television station.

KHOU-TV
The man squatted down, then pushed off the side of Williams Tower before falling to his death.

The man went inside Williams Tower and began his climb from the ninth floor observation tower. Dave Mowery, a construction worker, grabbed a laserscope for a closer look. "He's going up pretty fast, but he wasn't using nothing but a little hook to pull hisself up with."

"He did not have any of the normal professional equipment you'd normally see on someone trying to climb a building," agreed Houston Fire Department spokesman Jay Evans. He said there was no immediate sign of any harnesses, belts or suction cups.

The man was on the 26th floor of the 901-foot, 64-story Williams Tower when he jumped about 7:45 a.m. He landed in a grassy area near the tower.

11 News video showed the man squatting down, then pushing off the building before falling to his death. It appeared that he intended to jump.

The man has been identified as 20-year-old Ryan Hartley from Houston.

Hartley was wearing a powder bag on his waist, using it to apply rosin to his hands, and also employed some sort of handheld pick, normally used for climbing mountains, on the window molding as he moved higher.

Police had responded to a bomb threat at Williams Tower around 5:30 Monday morning which turned out to be a false alarm. "As the officers were leaving the building, the building maintenance manager informed officers that there was someone outside climbing onto the building," said HPD spokesman Joe Laud.

Police tried to talk to Hartley from an open window a few floors below as he continued to ascend. During the climb, he often paused, apparently to rest. "He was tired, we were watching him for a long time," said witness Pat Osborn. "He was tired." Another witness said, "You could tell he was distraut. He was tired."

Witness Pat McGarey, a tower worker, said Hartley was yelling or singing and periodically waved his hands before taking an extended pause. "We were wondering would they try to rescue him through one of the floor, you know break a window out? Hook and ladder, anything like that?" he asked.

Rescue personnel and a crowd of onlookers gathered below, television helicopters hovered above and motorists from the West Loop freeway, the busiest in Texas, all had a view of Hartley as he climbed, then jumped.

"It clearly looked like he jumped as opposed to falling," McGarey said. Other witnesses agreed. "He kinda slipped down a floor and uh, he kinda looked to the left, looked to the right and then just pushed off," said Pat Osborn.

"We all just watched, just kinda wide-eyed, watching" said Al Woodle, a construction worker who saw the drama unfold from the ground below. "He just flew backwards."

Evans said building climbers in Houston typically have reached the top or were rescued or apprehended beforehand.

"We've been very fortunate here in Houston, with many tall buildings," Evans said.

The Art Deco-inspired skyscraper was formerly known as the Transco Tower was built in 1983 and is known for the floodlight beacon at it's top. It was designed by famed architect Philip Johnson. It is the world's tallest building that is not in a downtown business district.

"Worked with us, worked for us over at the Texas Rock Gym," said Monty Queener. "Well liked by everybody there. Queener was Hartley's boss and described him as a strong rock climber with ten years of experience and a man with strong political views. "Very committed to his ideas and his beliefs and what he thought was right."

Police recovered a driver's license and a note containing a message of a political nature. Sources close to the investigation told 11 News that the note mentioned opposition to the oppression of Muslims and to the U.S. possibly entering a war similar to that of Vietnam.

"Doesn't surprise me that he would be making a statement and trying to change the world," said Queener. "No that doesn't surprise me. It would surprise me from the manner of his choosing to do that."

Houston police are also investigating an incident on Saturday at the Pennzoil Building on Louisiana Street downtown. Police were called to the scene because of reports that a man was on top of the building. It's unclear if the two incidents are connected.

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I'm in shock, really. It seems unreal. Just keep the Hartley family in your prayers. They need it more than anything right now.