Armed police called as knifeman brought down from third-floor balcony
Armed police were in the Black Country as officers negotiated with a man stood on the edge of a balcony armed with a machete.
The man was eventually brought down and taken to hospital after spending around four hours on the third-floor balcony in Brierley Hill.
Specialist negotiators were speaking to the man as he stood on the wrong side of the railings on the balcony at Northwood Court, a six-storey block of flats near Brierley Hill Primary School.
Police were called to the incident between Hill Street and The Promenade at around 1pm on Saturday and remained at the scene seven hours later.
A witness reported seeing the knifeman smash the glass on the balcony of one of the residential flats on the third floor before he left the balcony at around 5pm.
Paramedics and firefighters were also at the scene along with numerous marked and unmarked police cars as the surrounding area was closed to the public.
A police cordon was in place at The Promenade and Hill Street and Hill Street was also blocked off at the junction with Church Street.
A number of motorists had to turn round due to the cordon, causing congestion on the nearby roads.
A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "A man has safely come down from a balcony after officers were called to Hill Street, Brierley Hill at 1pm.
"We have assisted ambulance colleagues to take him to hospital to be checked over and the road has since reopened."
