8/2/2019 Frenchman Arrested After Climbing Sears Tower_ [Online
Edition] - Print Document - Proquest
1/2
29/12 FRENCHMAN ARRESTED AFTER CLIMBING SEARS TOWER: [ONLINE
Edition] - Print document - ProQuest
oxy-1.stdl.org:2733/chicagotribune/docprintview/418943735/Record/135C49C07BE5F53A1D7/2?acc
Find a copy
Abstract (summary) Translate [unavailable for this document]
Full Text Translate [unavailable for this document]
Title: FRENCHMAN ARRESTED AFTER CLIMBING SEARS
TOWER: [ONLINE Edition]
Author: Meyerson, Charlie
Publication title: Chicago Tribune
Pages: 1
Number of pages: 0
Publication year: 1999
Back to document
FRENCHMAN ARRESTED AFTER CLIMBING SEARS TOWER:[ONLINE
Edition]Meyerson, Charlie. Chicago Tribne [Chicago, Ill] 20 Aug
1999: 1.
URL to local SFX server:
http://sfx.stdl.org:3210/sfxlcl3?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=unknown&sid=ProQ:ProQ%3Achicagotribune&atitle=FRENCHMAN+ARRESTED
6706&date=1999-08-20&volume=1&issue=&spage=1&au=Meyerson%2C+Charlie&isbn=&jtitle=Chicago+Tribune&btit
le=
A French daredevil climbed to the top of the 110-story Sears
Tower this morning -- the city's latest demonstration of a
controversial practice known as "buildering," the scaling of
urban buildings.
A French daredevil climbed to the top of the 110-story Sears
Tower this morning -- the city's latest demonstration of a
controversial practice known as "buildering," the scaling of
urban buildings.
Alain Robert of Valence, France, was promptly arrested when he
reached the top.
He was released around 11:30 a.m., charged with a couple of
misdemeanors: criminal trespass and failure to use a safety
device or net while operating an aerial show.
Robert began his climb shortly before 6 a.m., creating a
spectacle along South Wacker Drive as police blocked traffic and
TV
helicopters hovered overhead. He made the climb armed apparently
only with a talcum bag and a hook, working his way up a railor
guide along the building's side.
To the applause of observers on the ground, he reached the top
shortly after 7 a.m. -- and was greeted by cops who carted
him off, in handcuffs, to police headquarters.Chicago Police
Department spokesman Pat Camden made clear that the department was
in no hurry to free Robert to speak to
reporters. "We're not trying to make a celebrity out of this
guy, even though he is," he said early in the morning. "We're
processing him just like any other guy who breaks the law."
Camden called attempts to climb buildings "very dangerous."
"It's irresponsible on the part of the individual that's doing
it," he said.
Robert has a history of spectacular -- and illegal -- climbs, in
Chicago and elsewhere. He was arrested in Chicago after making
it to the top of the Citibank Citicorp Center in July 1994. In
October 1994, he was arrested after reaching the top of a
48-storybuilding in New York City. He was arrested in April 1998
after scaling the 75- foot Luxor Obelisk in Paris.
He's not the first to make it to the top of the Sears.
On Memorial Day in 1981, "Spider Dan" Goodwin, then 25, climbed
the tower successfully and then was arrested by police. He
was fined $35 the next month, after pleading guilty to a
misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.
Police arrested two men and a woman in 1985 before undertaking
what police said was a plan to climb Sears Tower and then
parachute from the top. Charges against them were
dismissed.(Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune)
Indexing (details)
8/2/2019 Frenchman Arrested After Climbing Sears Tower_ [Online
Edition] - Print Document - Proquest
2/2
29/12 FRENCHMAN ARRESTED AFTER CLIMBING SEARS TOWER: [ONLINE
Edition] - Print document - ProQuest
oxy-1.stdl.org:2733/chicagotribune/docprintview/418943735/Record/135C49C07BE5F53A1D7/2?acc
Publication date: Aug 20, 1999
Year: 1999
Section: NEWS
Publisher: Tribune Publishing Company
Place of publication: Chicago, Ill.
Country of public ation: United States
ISSN: 10856706
Source type: Newspapers
Language of publicat ion: English
Document type: NEWSPAPERProQuest document ID: 418943735
Document URL:
http://search.proquest.com/docview/418943735?accountid=41923
Copyright: (Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune)
Last updated: 2012-01-23
Database: Chicago Tribune
Copyright 2012 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. Terms and
Conditions
