Westbound I-90 commute stalled Thursday morning in Spokane as crews intervened to help man in crisis

Traffic shut down along westbound Interstate 90, between the Lincoln Street off-ramp and Maple Street on-ramp Thursday morning to prevent a pedestrian from entering traffic.

Sgt. Greg Riddell, a spokesperson for the Washington State Patrol, said the road was only closed for 10 minutes.

The man, shoeless but dressed in gray shorts and a long-sleeve shirt, was spotted by Sgt. Jerry Walker of the Washington State Patrol wandering along a narrow shoulder of I-90 around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Walker attempted to contact the pedestrian, to no avail.

Walker watched as the man walked along the shoulder of the freeway until he stopped about a quarter of the way across the Latah Bridge. He motioned for Walker to come over to him. He then began muttering something under his breath about either being hit in the face or hitting someone else in the face, causing Walker to back off, Riddell said. The man then crossed over a metal rail, stood on the ledge and looked out across the Latah Valley below him.

Walker called the Spokane Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team to de-escalate the situation. Before long, the man crossed back over the metal rail, walked along the right shoulder to the middle of the Latah Bridge, crossed over the metal rail again and sat facing traffic.

"The male was still in a position to fall or jump over the rail," Riddell said in a news release sent via text message.

Walker shut down traffic at I-90 and Maple to prevent the man from re-entering traffic and to give the Crisis Intervention Team time and space to work with the distressed pedestrian. When the team arrived, they brought the man into protective custody. Riddell said he complied without issue. The man is currently receiving treatment through the Involuntary Treatment Act at the Spokane County Jail.

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