An 18-year-old man was caught climbing the Queensboro Bridge (a.k.a. 59th Street Bridge, a.k.a. Ed Koch Bridge) on Thursday.
The man, identified by police as Malik Sanchez, filmed his encounter with the police: When an NYPD Special Operations officer appears, Sanchez yells, "I appreciate you!" and adds, "I'm not suicidal!" Previously during the livestream of his journey, he was answering viewers' comments, telling them, "I'm not gonna die, you idiot!"
Sanchez started climbing around 4:45 p.m.; he referred to the bridge as the "Queens Bridge" on his livestream, explaining how he wanted to get a great view of New York and be the "King of New York." His livestream also accepted tips from viewers, with an automated voice reading out their profane and racist comments during the filming. As he climbed, he crows, "Get ready for the choppers, boys!"
As the officer approaches him, Sanchez also asks his mother to access the donations he received during the climb "through my Paypal," ostensibly for bail money. The officer is seen carefully securing himself as he makes his way towards Sanchez, who brags that he just climbed it with no gear.
The NYPD did remove Sanchez, who lives in Manhattan, from the bridge, and charged him with reckless endangerment, unlawful possession of a noxious substance (pepper spray), and criminal trespass.
Sanchez is also accused of pepper-spraying a woman in Chelsea earlier this week; according to the Daily News, the woman was sprayed by someone after she confronted them for filming her.
In recent years, the city's bridges and skyscrapers have become tempting for people to take selfies for social media. One University of Tennessee student explained, after he was arrested for climbing on the Brooklyn Bridge's cables, "I didn’t have any clue that NYC is ramping up security. There was nobody there to stop me from climbing onto the bridge."
