Two people in custody after scaling to top of Empire State Building
By Ray Sanchez, Mark Morales, CNN
(CNN) — Two people who reached the top of the antenna on the Empire State Building in New York City on Wednesday afternoon are in custody, according to the New York Police Department.
The masked individuals – identified by a law enforcement official as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov – also appeared to get engaged while atop the skyscraper.
Police said they were taken into custody without incident. Charges are pending and the investigation remains ongoing, according to police.
Investigators are still working to determine how the pair accessed a restricted area not open to the public, according to a law enforcement official. Two Emergency Service Unit officers climbed four ladders to reach the pair at the top of the spire, escorted them down safely and took them into custody. Both individuals were still being processed at a local precinct Tuesday.
“Stay where you are,” an officer says in a gripping bodycam video recorded high above the city.
“How are you doing? You can’t be up here,” the officer said.
“I’m OK,” the woman responded. Her face was blurred by police in the video.
Angela Nikolau, who has been identified as one of the two climbers, posted photos and video from the escapade on Instagram, including a shot of her engagement ring with the city in the background.
Her account features dozens of posts showing Nikolau and co-climber Kuznetsov, who goes by Ivan Beerkus posing at the top of various buildings and tall structures.
A pinned post at the top of her page promotes “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” a Netflix documentary from 2024.
Netflix’s description of the documentary describes the couple as “daredevil influencers,” who “risk their romance freedom and lives to climb a mega-skyscraper.”
Netflix declined comment on Wednesday.
Atop the antenna on Wednesday afternoon, the couple unfurled a banner that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” according to video and images from the scene.
Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CNN the dangerous stunt put city and police officials as well as the building owners in a “tough spot.”
“They are going to have to do whatever they can to see that these people are prosecuted for any appropriate charges because they cannot take the chance that others will see this and decide to also try it,” McCabe said.
“The last thing that people who are responsible for the Empire State Building want is to turn this place into a target for that sort of activity, because ultimately it will end in some sort of tragedy. The danger here, the recklessness, is obvious and can’t be overstated,” he added.
It was not clear how the pair managed to reach the very top of the 1,454-foot landmark.
Elisa Morales, on her lunch break in Midtown Manhattan, watched with others on nearby streets as the stunt unfolded.
“If it is a proposal, I don’t think that’s a proposal I would want, but I commend them for using something personal to try to make a more global impact,” she told CNN. “We just had the Knicks win a championship, so a lot of craziness went on there. I think right now in New York, you have to go to an extreme to try to top what’s been going on.”
The antenna at the top of the Empire State Building transmits broadcast signals for virtually all of New York’s local TV and radio stations.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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CNN’s Brian Stelter, Jason Carroll, Jeff Winter, Sneha Dhandapani, David Williams, Graham Hurley and Jessica Prater contributed to this report.
