All lanes of U.S. Route 50 were reopened at 9 p.m. Tuesday after law enforcement officials spent roughly six hours negotiating with a man sitting atop a fence on an overpass, an incident that briefly affected nearby voters.
Prince George’s County Police had been communicating with someone they described as a “man in crisis” on Whitfield Chapel Road over Route 50 since about 2:30 p.m. Officials shared that he was safely removed from the bridge by 8:40 p.m. and that there was no threat to the public.
The ramp closure affected those planning to vote at nearby Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. State Sen. Alonzo T. Washington said the polling site had been blocked briefly due to the police response but was then accessible to voters.
In response to the incident, the Maryland Department of Emergency Management suggested alternative routes and said that voters could cast a provisional ballot at the Prince George’s County Board of Elections in Largo in the interim.
“I am praying for this young man, his family, our first responders, and everyone impacted,” Washington said in an earlier Instagram post.
This story has been updated.
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