Teen arrested after rooftopping at 1 World Trade Center
  • 9 years ago
A 16-year-old New Jersey boy was arrested for criminal trespass after breaking into the construction site of 1 World Trade Center and climbing up to the top of the building early Sunday morning in New York.

Justin Casquejo of Weehawken managed to evade security and climb to the spire of the Freedom Tower, spending more than a hour on the building.

Casquejo, who is a parkour enthusiast and no stranger to scaling tall buildings, wriggled through a foot-wide hole in the fence around the site. He got to the sixth floor through the scaffolding, then took an elevator to the 88th floor. From there, he took the stairs to the 104th floor where he slipped past a sleeping security guard.

From the rooftop he made his way to the spire on a ladder. At the top of the building, he took photographs, then eventually worked his way back down. He was arrested on his way out at about 6 a.m. and was later charged with one count of criminal trespass in the third degree and one count of trespass. He was released without bail.

Casquejo's stunt called into question the effectiveness of the building's security system. The completed building will have a system estimated to cost $40 million.

The security guard who let Casquejo get by has been fired.
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