Stunt also put lives of others on bridge at risk, police say
A 21-year-old man is facing trespassing charges after he walked along the top of southern Ontario’s Burlington Skyway and videotaped himself along his precarious path.
Despite being charged, the man later posted a video of his stunt to YouTube.
Ontario Provincial Police got a call about a man scaling the bridge on Aug. 2 around 6 a.m., Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said.
Officers arrived and saw the man walking along the top of the bridge. “They located this person, spoke with him, [and] he is now facing charges of trespassing,” Schmidt said.
Previously on Thursday, Schmidt told CBC News that police were still searching for the man. Later in the day, Schmidt corrected that and said the man had been arrested almost two weeks ago.
‘One missed step, one gust of wind, and they’re going to be off that bridge, they’ll come plummeting down.’
– OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt
The video, which was posted on Aug. 15 — well after the arrest and charges — shows a man walking up the arch of the Skyway Bridge as cars speed past underneath him.
The man walks to the top of the 64-metre bridge, seemingly with no safety harness.
At one point the camera is turned around, revealing a man with dark hair and sunglasses and what appears to be a shirt over the bottom half of his face.
“It looks like a video of his adventures were posted online, and our crime unit investigators are reviewing that right now as well,” Schmidt said. “There may be more work and more followup on that case, and more information will come as it becomes available.”
“One missed step, one gust of wind, and they’re going to be off that bridge, they’ll come plummeting down. They’re going to lose their life, but if they come down on the Burlington Skyway, they could easily cause a fatality on the roadway itself.”
Messages sent to social media accounts associated with the video were not immediately returned.
Schmidt said more charges could be possible depending on the investigation.
This incident is separate from another incident on the Skyway Bridge on Aug. 15, in which a man “in crisis” was escorted off the bridge by police.
Source: CBC News Hamilton