A man keeps police at bay for about eight hours Sunday on the roof of the Pastime Club at 45 Cedar St in Lewiston. See sunjournal.com to watch a video of the scene. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — A 35-year-old man was taken to the hospital Sunday after a nearly eight-hour standoff with police and other emergency workers during which the suspect raved from a fourth-floor fire escape near the Pastime Club at 45 Cedar St. in Lewiston.

Police have identified the man as Branden Staples of Lewiston.

The incident forced closure of the Bernard Lown Peace Bridge and several area streets, and shut down power to the area.

Witnesses said Staples jumped out of a window from a relative’s house and landed on the nearby roof, where he began throwing anything he could find. He reportedly pulled air conditioning units from their mounts and tossed them over the side of the roof, and ripped up conduit or whatever else he could reach that was not secured.

A man keeps police at bay for about eight hours Sunday on the roof of the Pastime Club at 45 Cedar St in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Staples threw several items from the building as he yelled obscenities, all while taunting onlookers and emergency workers, witnesses said.

Police said Staples threw bricks that damaged a police cruiser and a fire truck.

Late in the afternoon, Staples, who was covered in black grease and dirt and obviously exhausted, was bent over on a fire escape. He then began pounding on a window. Someone inside the building opened the window and Staples crawled in.

Shouting and a scuffle could be heard before the window closed.

Staples was taken out of the building on a stretcher at about 3:50 p.m., as onlookers yelled encouragement to him. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital.

A man keeps police at bay for about eight hours Sunday on the roof of the Pastime Club at 45 Cedar St in Lewiston.  Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Meghan Staples, Branden Staples’ sister, wrote in a comment on Facebook at about 11:30 a.m. that her brother “is not in his right head right now and is threatening to jump if anyone gets near him.”

In a follow-up on Facebook Messenger after Branden Staples was brought out of the apartment, Meghan Staples said her brother was having a mental health crisis.

“(He) was on drugs and hallucinates and thinks everyone is out to get him and our family,” Meghan Staples wrote. “He is a great guy and means no harm by any means.”

Lt. Derrick St. Laurent of the Lewiston Police Department said Sunday evening that Staples was being evaluated at a local hospital and charges were pending.

A man keeps police at bay for about eight hours Sunday on the roof of the Pastime Club at 45 Cedar St in Lewiston.  Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal