An SUV involved in an hour-long closure of the Bay Bridge's upper deck Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010 is driven off the Fifth Street exit in San Francisco, Calif. The span was reopened to traffic at 9 am. A distraught man was taken into custody after threatening to blow up the bridge. (AP Photo/Bay Area News Group, Karl Mondon)

Man pleads not guilty to Bay Bridge bomb threat

ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO - A man who stopped traffic on Northern California's busiest bridge after he allegedly threatened to blow up the span has pleaded not guilty.

Craig Carlos-Valentino was arrested after an hourlong standoff on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge last Thursday. Authorities found no explosives in his SUV.

Authorities say Carlos-Valentino pulled over on the bridge's upper deck with his 16-year-old daughter in the car. During the standoff, he waved a weapon in the air, then threw it in the water. He says it was a pellet gun.

Authorities described the 51-year-old Antioch man as mentally unstable, saying he was stressed by family problems.

The Contra Costa Times reports that Carlos-Valentino faces multiple charges, including kidnapping, child endangerment and making a false bomb threat. He's being held on $750,000 bail.

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Information from: Contra Costa Times

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