Cops capture man who attempted to scale Trump Tower with suction cups

The daredevil climber who attempted to scale Trump Tower on Wednesday is a 20-year-old man who traveled to Manhattan from Virginia and staged his stunt in the hopes of winning a meeting with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, police said.

William Aubry, chief of Manhattan detectives at the NYPD, identified the man in a Wednesday evening press conference only by his first name, Steve. He said the man drove to New York on Tuesday and was staying in a local hotel. Aubry said police were studying a video he posted to YouTube to understand the climber’s motivation for making the risky vertical trek.

In the video, the climber describes himself as an “independent researcher” seeking to discuss an “important matter” with Trump.

“His sole intention was to meet with Mr. Trump,” Aubry said, adding that the man at no point posed a safety threat. He was taken to Bellevue hospital in Manhattan for a psychiatric evaluation, and it was not yet clear what charges he might face for his high-rise high jinks.

The 58-story tower houses Trump’s campaign headquarters, but the candidate was not inside during the climb. The Spider-Man-like escapade began around 4 p.m., as the candidate was holding a rally in Virginia.

Slideshow: Man scales Trump Tower with suction cups in NYC

Detectives and officers from strategic and critical response teams described a meticulously planned effort to isolate and apprehend the climber. Police positioned themselves above his perch, removed several glass panels and attempted to persuade him to surrender voluntarily , NYPD officials said.

The climber’s ascent ended abruptly around 7 p.m., when emergency responders were able to yank him in through a 21st-floor window of the glass skyscraper after a harrowing two-hour negotiation. He had been hoisting himself slowly up the glass facade using giant, hand-held suction cups.

“I reached out, took hold of his hand and said, ‘Sir, you need to come with me,’” said Detective Christopher Williams of the Emergency Services team, one of two detectives who heaved the climber safely inside Trump Tower.

During the climb, crowds gathered on the sidewalk below and flooded social media channels with photos, videos and live streams of the spectacle, quickly dubbing the climber “the human fly.” Traffic was halted as he suctioned his way up the building.

The man made slow but steady progress up the side, by sticking the large suction cups above his head, then stepping into rope loops secured to handles on the suction cups with large carabiners. Police said the suction cups and other climbing gear was of a variety available at any outdoors store.

The man was wearing khaki shorts, a black T-shirt and a backpack, which police said contained only climbing gear and multiple forms of identification with different names, which police are investigating.

Before the man was captured, law enforcement positioned below him installed large airbags to cushion the climber’s landing in the event that he fell or jumped.

Police are still investigating the YouTube video posted by the climber. While they did not explicitly identify the video in Wednesday’s press conference, their description of its contents matches that of a clip posted Aug. 7, titled “Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower).”

The man in the video, looking off-camera, wearing a hoodie and speaking in a monotone, asks for a meeting with Trump and says, “I guarantee that it is in your interest to honor this request.”

He goes on to say in the one-minute video: “Believe me, if my purpose was not significant, I would not risk my life pursuing it.”

The video ends with a plea to those who view it to “please help make this video viral so that it gets to Mr. Trump.”