LA's Climbing, Dancing, Rapping, Vaping, Backflipping Man Who Made The 110 Freeway His Stage

A man climbed a sign above the 110 Freeway and hung anti-pollution banners. (Photo by @GGarciaRoberts via Twitter)

All the world is a stage, but one man needed only a Los Angeles freeway sign to put on his thrilling show.

During the Wednesday morning rush, he climbed a sign above the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles, leading to a partial shutdown of the major city artery and ruining the commute of hundreds, if not thousands, of Angelenos.
The man, shirtless and wearing boxer shorts, socks and high-tops, used a bullhorn to announce his name was "Dephree." He also hung a sign with the name.

He decorated the freeway sign with other banners as well, including one that read "Give a hoot don't pollute!"
Responding Los Angeles city firefighters and California Highway Patrol officers deployed ladders in an attempt to get him down, but "Dephree" was far from done.

What followed was about two hours of high-stakes thrills, where the man danced, vaped, rapped, evaded capture and eventually backflipped into custody.

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Here's how the thrilling saga played out on Twitter, thanks to live-tweeting from L.A. Times reporter Benjamin Oreskes.

A crowd of onlookers formed and people seemed to be enjoying the show. Someone yelled at the man to take his shorts off.

"Dephree" was also using a bullhorn to rap. When he wasn't rapping or dancing, he was doing a little vaping. Authorities set up some inflatable pads under the sign just in case he fell.

Responding Los Angeles city firefighters and California Highway Patrol officers deployed ladders and attempted to get him down, but "Dephree" was not willing to go quietly.
   

Despite multiple officers and firefighters on ladders, the man continued to evade capture. Obviously first responders were playing it safe and did not want to risk anyone falling.

After spending roughly two hours up on the sign, "Dephree" finally surrendered -- and he went out in his signature style. As CHP officers closed in, he did a backflip off the sign and onto the pad on the freeway below, where he was taken into custody.
   

Here's the aerial view:

The Los Angeles Fire Department said the man was safely taken into custody.The southbound 110 was reopened after most of the right lanes were closed due to the man's antics.

Too bad for the commuters stuck in traffic, but at least nobody got hurt. And local TV news will have stellar footage to run all day.
 

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