Police captured a man who scaled the outside of Trump Tower using suction cups for more than two hours.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, the man had reached roughly the 12th floor of the 58-story building, which was being swarmed by police officers. Officers broke windows in the building in an attempt to halt the man’s progress. They also lowered a window-washing unit toward the man, and removed two large window panes from the building. It was through one of these windows that police officers were able to grab the climber and pull him into the building.
Michael Cohen, executive vice president of Trump Organization, issued a tersely worded statement about the climber as he was still scaling the building.
“This man performed a ridiculous and dangerous stunt,” Cohen said. “There’s damage to the building and he caused the unnecessary deployment of New York’s finest to protect his safety and the safety of everyone in the building. He’s caused the shutdown of traffic on Fifth Avenue. I’m 100 percent certain the NYPD had better things to do. If Mr. Trump were here he’d be thanking law enforcement for the job they’re doing.”
The man’s identity and motive remain unknown.
Later on CNN, Cohen said he didn’t think the man was a threat to Trump, but thinks there is something “mentally wrong with him.”
“What information he wanted to give to Mr. Trump he clearly could have sent by U.S. Postage or he could have made a phone call to the office and left a message,” he said. “He didn’t need to pull this dangerous and ridiculous stunt and caused a tremendous amount of traffic between 56 and 57th streets.
The building is the headquarters of Trump’s business and campaign operations, and the billionaire and his family also live in the penthouse of the famous structure. Trump on Wednesday afternoon was on the campaign trail, with events in Virginia and Florida.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran against Trump for the Republican nomination, found some humor as the incident was unfolding.
“To the climber on Trump Tower—dude, the elevator is much quicker” he said. “And WAY safer. There’s better way to be social climber!”
(via: Politico)
