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 title wasn’t instantly launched.
The teenager slipped and fell “when climbing upon one of many arches, with a purpose to submit, 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 costliest span ever constructed within the metropolis. It was designed to develop into a metropolis landmark.
However police closed the bridge a number of occasions after it shortly grew to become a hotspot for avenue racing, graffiti and unlawful takeovers that drew tons of of spectators to observe drivers carry out harmful stunts of their automobiles.
Social media stunts abounded as nicely — 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 delight in Los Angeles, it has additionally sadly served as a backdrop now for tragedies comparable to this,” Moore instructed the Police Fee. “Our added patrols will proceed at that location … to counter such reckless actions.”
