The Latest: Hundreds pause to check out man in Seattle tree

SEATTLE – The Latest on a man who climbed to the top of an 80-foot tree in Seattle and is refusing to come down (all times local):

8:35 a.m.

Hundreds of people have paused on their way to work to check out the man refusing to leave his perch near the top of an 80-foot sequoia tree in downtown Seattle. Many pulled out their phones to take a photo of his silhouette against the gray, drizzling sky and marveled that he was still there nearly a full day after climbing up.

The man spent much of the morning reclining quietly in the upper branches, but he resumed gesticulating wildly and shouting when two police officers tried to talk to him from sixth-floor windows of the Macy's department store building next door.

Local chef Michelle Matsko gazed up at the man from underneath her red umbrella and wondered if he was trying to make a statement. She called his endurance impressive. Another woman, Janice Wilson, repeatedly yelled to him: "We love you! Come down safely!"

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7:40 a.m.

Despite hours of police coaxing, a man refused to leave his perch near the top of an 80-foot tall sequoia tree in downtown Seattle Wednesday morning.

Authorities were alerted to the unidentified man in the tree around 11 a.m. Tuesday and he was still clinging to its branches at 7 a.m. Wednesday, more than 20 hours later.

"Issue appears to be between the man and the tree," Seattle police tweeted.

The department's tweet was just part of the online commotion the incident sparked, with new Twitter accounts dedicated to it and the hashtag #ManInTree trending on Twitter and Facebook.

The man's treetop sitting has also attracted onlookers on the street below and a local TV station livestreamed video of the man online as he dozed, shouted and knocked around a stick. The reporter and cameraman could be heard repeatedly telling passers-by that the man was indeed still in the tree.