Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Idiot Tourist Who Took Illegal Brooklyn Bridge Selfie Finally Arrested
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 18, 2015
Modified Aug 18, 2015
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 .
David Karnauch's Instagram
View all 6
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 18, 2015
Modified Aug 18, 2015
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
One of the NYPD's most wanted was arrested yesterday: The 21-year-old Tennessee resident whose selfie atop a Brooklyn Bridge cable brought shame upon New York's Finest.
David Karnauch snapped the shot, with lower Manhattan in the background, in late June, and he was arrested on Sunday in Chattanooga. WRCB reports, "NYPD issued a warrant for his arrest after a July photo on the Brooklyn Bridge. Hamilton County Sheriff's Office picked him up on Sunday on that warrant."
While Karnauch is just another narcissistic millennial looking for the most awesome photo to break Instagram, the stunt represented a failing of the NYPD's promise to be vigilant at the iconic bridge after the July 2014 incident where German artists managed to swap out the bridge's American flags with bleached out American flags. Of course, that was followed by a Russian tourist deciding to scale the bridge—just for fun (and some time in jail) and a French tourist who attempted to scale the bridge, in spite of new barriers.
Karnauch had previously insisted that the bridge was asking for it: "You could just get on a beam and it actually had handrails on the left and right side, and I just walked across the bridge and turned around to take a picture." The NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller called him a "knucklehead," pointing out:
He walked across a very safe crossover that has railings, and he got there and he looked up and he saw there was a fence, we have enhanced, working with the Department of Transportation so that it is now very difficult to climb around it, in case you want to changes the flags or something on top, and he looked at that and he said, 'Damn. I'm not getting around that. So I'll take my selfie stick and take this stupid picture and I'll put it on my website, but that's as far as he got. And if he'd stayed there probably a couple of more minutes than it took to get that shot, the roving patrols on the bridge, which are there all the time, would have arrested him or summonses him as they have had others, who have done the same stupid thing.
Karnauch is being held without bond in Chattanooga. WRCB also posted some other dramatic selfies that Karnauch took, raising the possibility he's also broken laws elsewhere. The Chattanooga police said of selfies where Karnauch is posing on local bridges, "There are safe ways in which community members can climb and enjoy outdoor sports responsibly. But, this could be considered dangerous and even illegal if an officer were to come in contact with an individual currently in the act."
Hopefully the authorities also seized Karnauch's selfie stick.
Tagged
brooklyn bridge
david karnauch
idiot
selfie
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
Police are still investigating bike crash that killed dad of 2 in Central Park
The family is raising money for the wife and two daughters he leaves behind.
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Published Sep 29, 2026 at 9:31 a.m. ET
NYC has a plan to stop homeless people from cycling between hospitals and the streets
The Bridge to Home program, which began last year, will officially expand to Brooklyn on Tuesday.
By
Karen Yi
News
NYC has a plan to stop homeless people from cycling between hospitals and the streets
The Bridge to Home program, which began last year, will officially expand to Brooklyn on Tuesday.
By
Karen Yi
Early Addition: Billy Joel is auctioning off 70 of his motorcycles
By
James Ramsay
Man dragged to death by subway in Brooklyn after getting caught on closing doors
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Upper East Side braces for affordable housing fast track, and backlash from residents
By
David Brand
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 .