An Antioch man who was arrested after he threatened to kill himself during a standoff on the Bay Bridge Thursday was charged Friday with several felonies, including kidnapping and making a false bomb threat, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said.
Craig Carlos-Valentino, 51, stopped his sport utility vehicle on the upper deck of the bridge west of Treasure Island at about 7 a.m., the CHP said.
He called local radio station KCBS before calling 911 and saying he was with his daughter and had explosives and a gun.
Eventually he let his daughter go and climbed over the rail on the side of the bridge, the CHP said.
A San Francisco police negotiating team convinced him to step away from the ledge and took him into custody at about 8 a.m.
Police determined there were no explosives in his SUV, and the guns he had were just pellet guns, the CHP said.
Carlos-Valentino was charged today with kidnapping, false imprisonment, child endangerment, and making a false bomb threat, all felonies, the district attorney’s office said.
He was also charged with misdemeanor brandishing a firearm, resisting or delaying a CHP officer, and driving with a suspended license.
Carlos-Valentino, who said he used to work for the American Red Cross but currently works as a security guard, apologized to authorities for causing the scene at the bridge.
“He’s extremely remorseful,” CHP spokesman Sgt. Trent Cross said.
“He feels bad he inconvenienced everyone.”
The CHP stopped westbound traffic on the Bay Bridge between about 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. due to the standoff. Eastbound traffic was not affected, though.
Carlos-Valentino was reportedly upset in part because he was having marital problems, the CHP said.
The appeared “very agitated, upset and angry” at the scene, Cross said, and accused his wife of 20 years of having an affair.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in San Francisco Superior Court.
Janna Brancolini, Bay City News
