Thread: SEE IT: Knucklehead climbs Trump Tower in Manhattan using suction cups, cops pull him

SEE IT: Knucklehead climbs Trump Tower in Manhattan using suction cups, cops pull him to safety at 21st floor


Man scales Trump Tower in Manhattan using suction cups
NY Daily News
BY
Adam Shrier
Laura Dimon
John Annese
Denis Slattery
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Wednesday, August 10, 2016, 9:48 PM

A dim-witted Donald Trump fan used suction cups to scale the mogul’s namesake Midtown tower Wednesday in a failed bid to meet the blowhard.

The 20-year-old Virginia man evaded frustrated cops for nearly three hours as he clung to the side of the Fifth Ave. skyscraper “Mission Impossible”-style before he was yanked to safety through a 21st-floor window by NYPD officers.

The daredevil started slowly climbing the glass tower around 3:30 p.m. using hand-held suction cups, ropes, and a climbing harness — stunning visitors on the fourth-floor terrace as he began his ascent.

“We were in the public garden at Trump Tower when all of a sudden the guy took off his basketball shorts and sprinted down the side of the building on the ledge,” said Blake Crowson, 20, of Newport News, Va. “We thought he was BASE jumping. He had two duffel bags that looked like they had climbing ropes.”

The daredevil used suction cups, ropes, and a climbing harness.

Witnesses said the nutjob, identified by sources as Stephen Rogata, dropped a notebook and a computer at two different points during his climb.

Tyler Jones, 20, a member of the U.S. National Guard, said that Rogata looked “determined” and said he was hopping around “like someone getting ready for a marathon.”

“He seemed like a little kid,” Jones said. "He was full of fear but fully committed.”

The bone-headed Trump supporter told cops he just wanted to get the attention of the Republican presidential nominee.

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A man scales the all-glass facade of Trump Tower using suction cups on Aug. 10, 2016, in New York. A police spokeswoman says officers responded to Donald Trump's namesake skyscraper on Fifth Avenue. The 58-story building is headquarters to the Republican presidential nominee's campaign. He also lives there.

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“His sole intention was to meet with Mr. Trump,” said NYPD Chief William Aubrey.

Rogata said he had no intention of hurting Trump, who was not in his penthouse apartment atop the 58-story high-rise as the drama unfolded. Trump was in Virginia and Florida Wednesday for a pair of rallies.

Rogata was taken to Bellevue hospital in Manhattan for a psychiatric evaluation. It was unclear what charges he might face for his hair-brained hijinks.

A police source said the Midtown mouintaineer might be bipolar.

Secret Service agents were spotted at the hospital late Wednesday.

Trump Organization executive Michael Cohen issued a statement to ABC News.

"This man performed a ridiculous and dangerous stunt. 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.”

Police were investigating a video posted on YouTube Tuesday titled “Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower)” which appeared to show the Spiderman-like climber explaining his ill-advised adventure.

“I am an independent researcher seeking a private audience with you to discuss an important matter,” the hooded, long-haired man says in the clip.

“Believe me, if my purpose was not significant, I would not risk my life pursuing it,” he adds, before calling on viewers to make the video go viral and vote for Trump.

Rogata may be using a second name, police said.

He arrived in the city alone Tuesday and stayed in a hotel before embarking on his spectacle.

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Rogata’s stunt drew hundreds to the streets surrounding the black-glassed building and brought traffic in Midtown to a standstill. The skyscraper houses the headquarters of the Trump Organization.

Onlookers rushed to social media to comment on the chaos.

“There is a man scaling Trump Towers with cops watching,” Jason Chu, using the handle @JasonC1219, tweeted.

In another tweet, Chu wrote that the climber was carrying a notebook and tried to show it to people in the building, but dropped it as he climbed.

In a video posted by @StevOLucci,” a woman can be heard asking, “What happens if it starts raining again?”

A man responds, to laughter, “He’s gonna slide off!”

The NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit used a motorized window washer scaffold and busted through a window on the 16th floor of the building around 5 p.m. in an attempt to coax Rogata inside.

Glass rained down on the gravity-defying Trump supporter.

The baseball hat-wearing wild man ignored cops pleas and continued climbing past the shattered window.

Cops had set up several airbags in case the climber came crashing down.

Detective Christopher Williams, with emergency services, was the cop who eventually grabbed hold of the knucklehead.

"I was waiting for a time it was safe for him, myself and my crew. I said to my team "listen, he's at a level I can grab him and safely bring him in,” Williams said.

“I reached out my hand and said "sir, you need to come with me."

Williams said Rogata considered resisting arrest.

"He thought about it," he said, but the suspect ultimately "went peacefully."

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2746270

I certainly don't approve of what this young man did, but don't you think it's strange that a news article covering the story would refer to him as:

1. knucklehead
2. dim-witted
3. nut-job
4. bone-headed
5. hair-brained
6. wild man

I've never read such degrading dismissive words of someone in a news article reporting the event.

I guess they reported on him differently than they would anyone else because he's a Trump Supporter and the New York Daily News is part of the Sick, Mentally Ill Corrupt Media.

Sad.

The young man is in a lot of trouble. I heard today if he's charged and I'm sure he will be, he could get 3 to 7 years in prison and a $5,000 fine, plus the cost of any damage he caused to the Trump building.