A 17-year-old boy fell to his demise this weekend whereas climbing a Los Angeles bridge in an obvious social media stunt, police mentioned.
Police had been despatched to the sixth Avenue Viaduct round 2 a.m. Saturday and located the boy, who was pronounced lifeless at a hospital. His identify wasn’t instantly launched.
The teenager slipped and fell “when climbing upon one of many arches, with a view to put up, apparently, a social media broadcast,” Police Chief Michel Moore mentioned Tuesday throughout a gathering of the Los Angeles Police Fee.
The bridge opened final July. The $588-million span, which changed an 84-year-old Artwork Deco span, runs 3,500 toes (1,066.80 meters) over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River and connects downtown to the historic Eastside.
The bridge, which has 1000’s of LED lights and views of LA’s skyline, is the most important and most costly span ever constructed within the metropolis. It was designed to turn out to be a metropolis landmark.
However police closed the bridge a number of instances after it rapidly turned a hotspot for road racing, graffiti and unlawful takeovers that drew tons of of spectators to look at drivers carry out harmful stunts of their automobiles.
Social media stunts abounded as properly — in a single case, a person sat in a barber’s chair for a haircut in the midst of the lanes.
A person was additionally fatally shot on the bridge in January throughout unauthorized filming of a music video.
“Tragically we see that location, whereas it has spawned quite a lot of satisfaction in Los Angeles, it has additionally sadly served as a backdrop now for tragedies reminiscent of this,” Moore informed the Police Fee. “Our added patrols will proceed at that location … to counter such reckless actions.”
