In a city full of marquee buildings and landmarks under constant watch, it is just one among many. But as the primary residence of the Republican nominee in the midst of a heated presidential campaign, Trump Tower holds a particularly high-profile perch.
The sleek 68-storey edifice of luxury apartments and shops in Midtown Manhattan, already a tourist attraction, has been under a magnifying glass since Donald Trump kicked off his campaign there last summer. And it has been a stage for many of the same strong emotions inspired by the candidate himself. Seen through the weary gaze of law enforcement, it is a potential target for protests – which have unfolded there numerous times in the last year – tussles, or worse.
All of which leaves open the question of how a lone man with a collection of gear was able to mount its exterior in broad daylight on Wednesday and climb up 21 floors before anyone was able to stop him. By the time the police pulled the man into the building, he had been climbing for about three hours – a stunt broadcast live to a wide audience on television and social media.
The police identified him as Stephen Rogata (19) and charged him with felony reckless endangerment and misdemeanour trespassing. They said he had driven from Virginia and checked into an economy hotel on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan the night before the climb.
The police said they received a 911 call about the climb shortly after it began at about 3.30pm. When they came upon Rogata, he was already five storeys up, using power-grip suction cups and what appeared to be a harness to aid his ascent.
On Thursday, Rogata was still at Bellevue Hospital Center, where he was taken for an evaluation after he was detained, police said. At Trump Tower that day, four police officers, including two from a counterterrorism unit, surveyed the premises. Two private security guards stood in the lobby as tourists flowed in and out. At least seven cameras dotted the lobby and the building’s exterior, in addition to those on nearby buildings and traffic lights along Fifth Avenue.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department said Trump Tower had at least one police officer posted there every day, an assignment created as the election cycle has picked up during the last year. The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Building as stage
The climb was hardly the first time a
New York City
building had been turned into a stage. From Philippe Petit’s famous cable walk above the World Trade Center in 1974 to the Puerto Rican nationalists who occupied the Statue of Liberty in 1977, draping the island’s flag from the crown, those seeking attention have, at times, found it at the top of the city.
But in a social-media-saturated world, the stunts and the outrageous images they often generate have the potential to grab attention more quickly than ever. One video stream of the Trump Tower climb, posted on Facebook, drew about 5.8 million views, with a majority of those from people tuning in while the climb was in progress.
"It's so much easier to get your message out and do it live," said Glenn Corbett, a professor of security, fire and emergency management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "Back then all you got was the nightly news."
The developer Douglas Durst spoke about the two climbers who scaled the New York Times Building on the same day in 2008. He said he had taken steps at two of his buildings – Via 57, a 32-storey residential building on the West Side of Manhattan, as well as 1 World Trade Center – to discourage climbers. At Via, on 57th Street near the West Side Highway, an overhang was designed for the base of the building instead of the angular walls reaching down to the sidewalk that were initially planned.
“We’re now very aware of having to design buildings so they are not scalable,” Durst said. Security experts described the challenge of securing large buildings as a constant push, one that involved sufficient staffing in addition to shrewd design. “There’s always going to be people who are going to try to steal and commit assault, and climb buildings,” said Mark Lerner, the president of Epic Security Corp, which provides security for more than 100 buildings in New York City. “You need the proper security and personnel to act as a deterrent.”
Limitations
But the precautions have their limitations. Three daredevils sky-dived off the top of the World Trade Center in 2013, filming their exploits from a helmet camera. The next year, a 16-year-old sneaked past security and made it to the top of the 1,776 foot tower.
The police said Rogata told them the brazen stunt had a simple purpose: He wanted to meet Trump, a motivation that he laid out in a YouTube video that was posted before the climb. A spokeswoman for the police said they believed he had "some type of mental disorder".
Tourists strolled by the tower on Thursday, with some stopping to snap selfies in front of it. Richard Monacchio (50), who was in town with his 14-year-old son to see a Broadway show, said he decided to visit the tower after watching the video stream. "I'm surprised security didn't start running out immediately," Monacchio said of the stunt. Still, he added about Rogata, "I was hoping he would make it."
New York Times