Caught On Video: Police Pull Man Climbing New York Times Building To Safety
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There were tense moments in Midtown on Thursday as a man scaled the side of the New York Times building.
Using the diagonal pillars that line the building, Wilmer Ferrara, 36, of Massachusetts, climbed the side of it facing 40th Street near Eighth Avenue starting around 5:15 p.m.
"From what I had heard, he snuck in through either like a side entrance or something and then just started going up the flights," witness Bernadette Rae told CBS2's Lisa Rozner.
The NYPD says Ferrara got up to the sixth floor, where he told officers he got tired and stopped.
Eighth Avenue was shut down and onlookers swarmed the sidewalk in suspense.
"At first I wondered if he had a banner," one witness said. "I was very concerned."
Until all of a sudden, first responders broke a window from inside the building and rescued him around 6 p.m.
Witnesses say the way emergency responders helped the man was like something out of a movie.
"They told him to come back in the building and he did," witness Chuck Oshea said. "They did good."
Back in 2008, three men illegally climbed the external façade of the building within a month of each other.
As for Thursday's incident, the New York Times released a statement saying, "We thank the New York Police Department for quickly resolving the issue."
Ferrara was taken into custody and charged with reckless endangerment, violating local and criminal trespass.
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