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Williamsburg Bridge Acrobats Invoke Philippe Petit Defense
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 16, 2011
Modified Jul 16, 2011
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jul 16, 2011
Modified Jul 16, 2011
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Acrobat Seanna Sharpe and magician Thomas "Savage" Skinner performed a dangerous, risky stunt atop the Williamsburg Bridge last Monday evening, and were promptly arrested and charged with felony reckless endangerment. The couple now faces seven years in jail, but their attorney is invoking the case of Philippe Petit, the man who walked between the twin towers in 1974 and had his charges dropped, as precedent to set his clients free. "In the spirit of this great city, my hope is that the district attorney will look at it as the artistic act that it was," their lawyer Wylie Stecklow tells the Daily News.
What Sharpe and Skinner did should be "looked at" in light of Petit's stunt, Stecklow argues, because "New York City is the cultural center for so many things." Indeed Petit's charges were dropped almost immediately after they were leveled, and Manhattan DA Richard Kuh said that the security at the twin towers wasn't as "keen" as it should have been. Instead of jail time or fines, Petit gave a performance in Central Park. What Sharpe and Skinner did is similar to the antics of urban historian Steve Duncan, who in a documentary prowls subway tunnels and climbs to the top of the Williamsburg Bridge, and wasn't charged after the video went viral.
Sharpe, 24, released a statement stating that in the seven years she's been performing, she's never taken a spill. "This was a performance," the statement read, "It was a theatrical piece intended to inspire individuals to find the aesthetic in their own lives, in the art of creating a better reality." Nothing snuffs out the flame of inspiration like a seven-year jail sentence.
Tagged
acrobats
art
seanna sharpe
stunts
Thomas Skinner
williamsburg bridge
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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