PITTSBURGH -- One of several Greenpeace activists who was arrested after dangling from Pittsburgh's West End Bridge with a huge sign for climate change is wanted on an international warrant.
Team 4's Paul Van Osdol reported that the suspect is 31-year-old Jonathan Batchelor and he has the highest bail of any of the 14 activists who were arrested in Wednesday's bridge stunt.
Batchelor was one of the people who rappelled from the span and hung in the air over the Ohio River for about two hours before coming back up and surrendering.
His group's banner was hung from the underside of the bridge, one day before world leaders were due to arrive in Pittsburgh for
the G-20 economic summit at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.
Two years ago, Batchelor was on a ship that rammed a Japanese whaling vessel in the Antarctic Ocean.
According to Japanese press reports, Batchelor and two others are accused of trying to throw a rope around the whaling ship's propeller. They're also accused of throwing smoke bombs onto the deck of the whaling ship, starting a fire.
After that incident, a Japanese court issued warrants for Batchelor and the other two men through Interpol, the international police agency.
Batchelor was working with the Sea Shepherd conservation society, an anti-whaling organization based in Washington.
Batchelor was being held at the Allegheny County Jail on $75,000 bond. His local charges include possession of an instrument of crime, defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and obstruction of traffic.
UPDATE - Team 4's Jim Parsons reported that Judge Jeffrey Manning held a bail review hearing for Batchelor via video conference on Thursday and lowered the amount to $10,000.
Batchelor remained in custody Thursday afternoon. The other Greenpeace activists involved in the bridge incident were released.
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