Police arrest man perched atop Monument Circle statue

Signs posted around Soldiers and Sailors Monument clearly state: Do not climb on the walls.

One pedestrian on Monday chose not only to violate that simple rule but also to shimmy up several statues, police said.

When an officer spotted the man a few minutes past noon, police said, he was perched atop a war figures’s head.

Using his patrol car’s public address system, an officer ordered the man to climb down, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

Police said the man refused, “shaking his finger at us, saying, ‘No, no no,’ ” according to IMPD Officer Jeffrey C. Elliot’s report.

The officer took time to add some historical context.

“These statues on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument are the original limestone statues that were carved and placed on the monument during the years 1888 to 1901, making them well over 100 years old,” Elliot noted.

Two IMPD officers approached the man, identified as Osmer A. Meza, 26, and told him again he needed to comply with their orders. Sitting “approximately 15 to 20 feet above the pedestrian level of the monument,” Meza gazed down at the two officers and repeated his intention to stay atop the statue, police said.

Meza questioned the officers’ authority to make him come down, police said, and told them they should summon their supervisors. When an officer began climbing up the wall himself to force Meza into custody, however, Meza finally began a descent, police said. He told the officers at that point he realized they were “serious,” police said.

Once the man made it down to the sidewalk, police arrested him on preliminary charges of criminal trespass, resisting law enforcement and vandalism, according to the police report.

“Notification was made to the War Memorial Commission of the incident so they can arrive and make an assessment of any new damages caused by Mr. Meza from climbing up onto a statue,” Elliot wrote.

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.