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Man who climbed downtown Hamilton crane ‘departed the hospital without permission’: police

Hamilton police say a man climbed a downtown construction crane on Tuesday. Don Mitchell / Global News

A man who climbed a downtown construction crane early Tuesday morning and sent to hospital for evaluation went missing for a period of time, according to Hamilton police.

Police say they responded to the intersection of Main Street East and Walnut Street South around 1:00 a.m. and closed the area around a construction site while they negotiated with a man in his 20s for nearly three hours.

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Shortly after 4 a.m., Hamilton police say they were able to safely apprehend the man as he climbed down from the crane on his own.

He’s since been identified as Ben Vandenbroek, 24, of no fixed address.

Police say Vandenbroek then walked out of St. Joseph’s Hospital on Charlton Avenue East without permission from authorities, Tuesday afternoon.

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He was found hours later and transported back to hospital, uninjured.

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