'Skyscraperman' Dan Goodwin Arrested After Climbing Millennium Tower

Is that Spider Dan?

​Update, 6:30 p.m.: Police have identified today's Millennium Tower climber as Dan Goodwin. See below for more details.

The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that a climber calling himself "Skyscraperman" was arrested at 5:30 after completing an ascent of San Francisco's Millennium Tower.

The identity of the climber has not yet been released, though "Spider Dan" Goodwin's name has been bandied about on the Internet -- and the Millennium Tower has already been listed among the buildings mounted by the serial wallclimber on his Wikipedia page.

Initial signs from the police indicate Goodwin may indeed be the climber. SFPD spokesman Officer Albie Esparza described the man arrested as a 50ish Caucasian referring to himself as "Skyscraperman." That happens to be one of the 54-year-old Goodwin's nicknames, and the title of his autobiography, published earlier this year.



The climber attempted to unfurl an American flag after using suction cup-like devices to ascend the 58-story condo; he was nabbed by cops who confiscated the flag.

"Spider Dan" Goodwin

​Esparza said the man began his climb at around 2:15 p.m. and reached the summit at 5:30. When asked what criminal charge a skyscraper climb carried, the police spokesman said he wasn't sure -- but guessed things would start with trespassing. Perhaps, but, last year, we found out that city judges don't consider vaulting fences to enter the bear enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo to be trespassing -- so we'll see.

Goodwin -- who has climbed many of the world's tallest buildings, but none since the 1980s -- has spent the last several years pitching his company, "Skyscraper Defense." Playing upon his climbing experience, he aims "to be the global leader of innovative ideas that revolutionize the safety and construction of towering skyscrapers with the belief that skyscrapers should be a safe place to work and live without fear of dying because nobody is capable of rescuing them," according to his company's mission statement.

Update, 6:30: Goodwin, 54, of San Rafael, was confirmed as today's climber. He was arrested and cited on two misdemeanor charges, said Esparza -- though he didn't have the exact charges at his fingertips. Goodwin is due to be released shortly at Southern Police Station at 850 Bryant "where an entourage of media awaits," says the police spokesman.
 

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