Matt Monroe
Web Editor
Scaling Trump Tower in New York City using large suction cups, a 20-year-old Virginia man was captured by police after he spent three hours climbing, reaching the 21st floor.
The man attempting to climb the building wanted an ‘audience’ with Donald Trump, the current Republican candidate aiming to become President of the United States.
Before finally capturing him through an open window and pulling him inside, the police had attempted many other methods of capturing the climber. Officers attempted everything from smashing windows, breaking ventilation ducts, and more in an attempt to stop the climber’s progress.
The climber was skilled enough though to be able to maneuver through these attempts before police finally captured him around 6:30 p.m.
A day before the attempted climb, the man posted a video on YouTube explaining his actions, presumably to Donald Trump. In the video, titled “Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower),” the man explains that he is “an independent researching seeking a private audience with you to discuss an important matter.”
He does not explain what the important matter is in the video, but he stresses its importance through the risks he’d have to take to talk to Mr. Trump since he would not be able to speak to him through “conventional means.”
After the man was safely inside the building, he had told officers the same thing he had said in the video according to NYPD Assistant Chief William Aubrey.
Additionally, another NYPD official had said of the climber that, “This is clearly a stunt guy. The guy doesn’t appear to be here to do anything evil.”
On how the officers deducted this, Jessica Noble, assistant professor of Criminal Justice said, “The individual did not have a weapon and was not making threats which is the first clue to an officer that he did not want to harm anyone.”
“I think the NYPD did the best possible job with the situation,” Noble said of the NYPD’s response to the situation. “It is not a situation that happens often.”
For what this man could be charged with, Noble had said that, “This individual, if applicable under New York law, could be charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.”
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