Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Tourist Scaled Brooklyn Bridge For "Fun" Before Cops Arrested Him, Okay?
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 26, 2014
Modified Aug 26, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 26, 2014
Modified Aug 26, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The Russian tourist who decided to climb the Brooklyn Bridge, all the way up to the tower on the Brooklyn side, was in court Sunday to face charges. A prosecutor said, "The defendant stated in sum and substance that he did it for fun."
Well, the NYPD and Mayor de Blasio aren't having any fun. In fact, after the July 22 incident where German artists took the American flags off both Brooklyn Bridge towers and swapped them out with white flags, Police Commissioner Bratton was upset that the security breach occurred and promised that patrols would be stepped up.
The climber, Yaroslav Kolchin, 24, was part of a tour group from Russia. His lawyer said that he had recently graduated from a university there and worked in advertising. From the NY Times:
Mayor de Blasio said Mr. Kolchin had entered the bridge on the public walkway that runs down its center, but then made his way past a security gate and onto a cable, which is off limits to the public but has guide wires for bridge workers.
The police sergeant who spotted him called in helicopters, police boats and emergency service officers. Mr. Kolchin made it to the tower’s platform, walked back and forth and took several photos with his iPhone, as a crowd gathered below, the police said. Then, with a helicopter next to him, he walked back down the cable toward Brooklyn and was arrested.
However, he did not post those photographs to his social media yet—where's the fun in that?!
Yesterday, de Blasio said, "We are in the process of making changes in the way we approach the bridges that are our responsibility. This individual should have known better, it's quite obvious this was not a place for an individual citizen to go." He added, "You can hold me accountable and Commissioner (William) Bratton accountable.” Still, de Blasio pointed out that the police response was fast.
Kolchin, who was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, was required to turn in his Russian passport and was held on $5000 bail. According to the Wall Street Journal, Kolchin's lawyer said he has been staying at the Globetrotters Hotel in Bed-Stuy and wanted to cooperate: "The judge...said the defendant could potentially get a new passport at the Russian consulate and set bail at $5,000 cash or bond. But, in a nod to Mr. Kolchin’s circumstances, he also urged the district attorney’s office to press ahead with the case swiftly. 'You should have some kind of offer for him this Friday; this is not a complicated case,' the judge said."
Tagged
bad idea
brooklyn bridge
climbing
fun
Yaroslav Kolchin
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .