The unforgiving currents of the Delaware River waited hundreds of feet below.

Dozens of cops were nearby, crouched behind their vehicles, ready to pounce, fearing the man might have been armed with a deadlier weapon.

In the distance, the sun set on Philadelphia's skyline while hundreds of motorists remained stranded on both sides of the bridge.

The tension and suspense built for more than three hours, but the standoff ended peacefully shortly after 7:30 p.m. when the unidentified man surrendered to New Jersey State Police, officials said. His girlfriend and child were unharmed.

The bizarre situation started to unfold shortly after 4 p.m., when troopers tried to stop the man in a northbound lane on the Route 42 freeway for speeding and discovered that there were several outstanding traffic warrants against the Escalade, said Ed Kasuba, spokesman for the Delaware River Port Authority.

The state police briefly chased the Escalade but backed off once the driver approached the Walt Whitman Bridge because of safety concerns, Kasuba said.

When he was about a quarter of a mile to the halfway point on the bridge, the man reportedly got out of the SUV, clutching his baby and a baseball bat while he threatened to jump.

He also flashed the butt of what turned out to be a toy gun at a DRPA police officer, officials said. The man returned to the SUV and the standoff began.

Finally, at about 7:30 p.m., an armored SWAT vehicle pulled up near the Escalade.

The driver, finally convinced to give up, emerged from the Escalade with his girlfriend and child. The bridge reopened about 30 minutes after the standoff ended. *

The Associated Press contributed to this report.