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Downtown Seattle Comes to Standstill as Man Climbs Tree

A guy has climbed an 80-foot-tall tree outside the downtown Macy’s store and won't come down.

Starting around 11:20 a.m. on Tuesday, police and firefighters started getting reports that a man had climbed the 80-foot sequoia tree in a street median at 4th & Stewart just outside the downtown Macy's store. The man had climbed about 70 feet up and parked himself and started yelling obscenities, throwing apples, and then pine cones at passers-by.

Still up there around 2:45 p.m., he started taking off branches off the tree, which is decorated for Christmas every year, and throwing them at the negotiator below.

As you might imagine, traffic in and around the region will be "impacted" for the foreseeable future. King County Metro has started re-routing trolleys.

As is the way of our world, he already has his own Twitterfeed.

Even one of the firefighters trying to help him has a Twitterfeed now.

Per police spokesperson Patrick Michaud, the authorities aren't going to rush the situation.

"At this point, we want to make sure he’s OK and that he can get down from the tree without hurting himself or someone else," Michaud said. "We’re on his schedule — we’re not going to rush it with someone at the top of a tall tree. If you rush it, it could become dangerous."

4:00 p.m. Update: Apparently he's a Twilight fan. Or not a Twilight fan. One of those.

4:15 p.m. Update: It's raining now.

4:50 p.m. Update: Man in Tree still in tree. He's stood up a couple times but otherwise right where we left him.

5:30 p.m. Update: After a couple daliances with coming down, Man In Tree has gone back up top and continues to find things to pick off the branches.

7:00 p.m. Update: He's still up there...

7:30 p.m. Update: Oh boy...

8:45 p.m. Update: Still up in that tree...

9:00 p.m. Update: WE WERE SO CLOSE!

· Man climbs Macy’s Christmas tree downtown; traffic disrupted [ST]