Man Perched on Tulsa Tower for Six Days Won?t Come Down

A man who climbed up a 300-foot Tulsa area radio tower six days ago remained in an ongoing standoff with police Tuesday afternoon.

The man, identified as 25-year-old William Sturdivant II, has sat on the Clear Channel radio tower since 11a.m. on Thursday.

According to Clear Channel spokeswoman Angel Aristone:

"[Staff members] found an unidentified man breaking and entering into a clearly marked unauthorized area on our property."

Police say Sturdivant has a history of mental illness and was reportedly chased off the roof of the Clear Channel Communications building near 27th Street and Memorial Drive on Wednesday, a day before he climbed the tower.

Starting the escapade in a white T-shirt, shorts and red socks, Sturdivant appeared ambling around in only his shorts on a live stream of the events on Tuesday afternoon.

Citing police, local TV station KOTV-DT reported that Sturdivant asked for a Whataburger meal and some Oreos and milk Tuesday morning.

Fox News reported that the man has not had any water since early Friday morning.

Temperatures in Tulsa on Tuesday hovered around 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sturdivant's stunt caused quite a frenzy in the Oklahoma city, with one restaurant even offering Tower Guy five-topping pizzas to mark the man's fifth day aloft. Twitter hashtags popped up online and when Sturdivant lost one of his shoes, a spectator claiming to have retrieved it was selling it online.

Tulsa police have sent a negotiator to talk with the man and have maintained close contact. At 2:40 local time this afternoon, live footage showed Sturdivant and the negotiator holding hands, though he remained on the tower.

"We've had a couple of times when we've made some progress with him and then the crowd will start yelling and screaming things, it will distract him, and we'll regress and go 12 hours back in time with the progression that we've made with him," Ryan Perkins, of Tulsa Police, told KOTV-DT.

"We don't want people yelling, screaming, taking pictures. We would like people to, basically, ignore him," he added

KOTV-DT also reported that Sturdivant said:

"There's no such thing as suicide."

Police are more concerned about his health, noting that he has hardly slept, getting shuteye during the day on Saturday and again Sunday night.

Tulsa County court records show that Sturdivant has convictions that include second-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He was released from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in April, according to the DOC's Web site.

The negotiators remained in the bucket of a ladder truck attempting to coax Sturdivant out Tuesday afternoon.