Man Holds 3-day Standoff on Crane

Standoff continues high above Buckhead

By BILL MONTGOMERY, BILL TORPY

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 05/27/05

Atlanta officials have considered other options, but will continue to wait out a Florida fugitive holding Atlanta's popular bar district hostage.

Buckhead business leaders have suggested the crane that 41-year-old murder suspect Carl Edward Roland ascended at a Buckhead construction site more than 48 hours ago be moved so that Peachtree Road and businesses would not be affected this weekend.

Police have refused, saying that if the Roland fell or jumped while the crane was being moved, the city could be held responsible in court.

"The problem is if we begin moving it and he falls, who's liable?" said Atlanta police spokesman John Quigley this afternoon. "It's about patience and perseverance."

Those whose livelihood stems from the closed portion of Peachtree Road grew frustrated with the unchanging situation.

Elton Taylor, an electrician from Mableton who was sent home without work on Thursday, drove in Friday morning hoping work could resume.

"Looks like it's not," he said this morning. "This is starting to affect my paycheck. We can't work until this is over."

The crane standoff "is killing my business," Virginia Morast, owner of the Rolly Polly sandwich shop on Bolling Way at Pharr Road, said Friday morning. "I've just done my figures for yesterday, and I'd say it's fallen off 45 percent," Morast told a couple of reporters. "If it wasn't for all of you guys, I wouldn't have any business."

"You have to feel some compassion for him," she said of Roland. "If you're doing something like that, something's just not right with you."

Morast said she supported police efforts to talk Roland down from his 350-foot perch without harm to him or to others.

Traffic on Bolling Way between Buckhead Avenue and Pharr Road a block east of shut-down Peachtree Road was stop-and-go and creeping along.

"There's a lot more [traffic] than this time yesterday," Coca-Cola truck driver Steve Matthews said at 8:30 a.m. Friday. He said the traffic mess had put him 20 minutes behind on his deliveries to restaurants in the area.

"I think a lot of these people are curious, wanting to take a look at him," Matthews said.

Tolga Akdogu, owner of Oxford Street, a men's clothing store, estimates in the two days that Peachtree Road has been closed his business has lost more than $2,000 in sales.

"We're suffering because we need to make money to operate. However, I have sympathy for the guy, no one deserves to die," Akdogu said. "I'm waiting patiently for this to end. We need to remember he is a human being no matter what happens."

Akdogu set up his wife's telescope Thursday and let passersby peer up at the scene above. Today, he said was "tired of looking" at the man on the crane, but still took an occasional peek.

Police negotiators have spent the day trying to coax the 41-year-old man from the structure, repeatedly sounding alarms to keep him awake. At one point, a helicopter hovered overhead and later circled the crane.

The drama, which began Wednesday afternoon, clogged traffic around Buckhead and kept gaggles of passersby and office workers looking skyward throughout the day.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pound man climbed the tower after threatening a construction worker with a knife. He told the man to "get out of the way" because he had "already broken the law and hurt someone," Atlanta Police Richard Pennington said.

Roland, from Clearwater, Fla., is suspected of killing his former girlfriend, Jennifer Gonzalez, 36, whose strangled and beaten body was discovered Tuesday in a retention pond near her home in Oldsmar, Fla. Sometime during the week, he made his way to Atlanta. His abandoned vehicle was found parked a few blocks south of the construction site.

A police supervisor at the scene today said once Roland is arrested he will be handed over to Florida authorities. Atlanta could charge Roland with aggravated assault for showing a knife to a construction worker and reckless endangerment, the officer said.

Erik Friedly, a spokesman for Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, said, "At this point I think we would defer to Florida so they can begin their judicial process."

Friedly said Howard would cooperate with Florida authorities if Roland should fight extradition.

Staff writers Rodney Ho, Mike Morris, David Pendered, Ernie Suggs, Charles Yoo contributed to this report.