Teen, 17, falls to death from 6th st Viaduct Bridge while filming social media stunt gone wrong. Victim slipped and fell. Fatality is latest with the opening of the new structure drawing daredevils.
A 17-year-old boy fell to his death over the weekend while climbing a Los Angeles bridge in an apparent social media stunt, police said. The boy plunged to his death as he filmed his climb along the structure.
Police responded to the 6th Street Viaduct Bridge around 2am on Saturday, where they found the boy who was pronounced dead later at a hospital.
Police Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday said that the teen slipped and fell ‘when climbing upon one of the arches, in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast’, during a meeting of the LA Police Commission.
Ambitious project
The teenager’s name wasn’t immediately released. Police declined to share what social media platform the teen was using prior to his fatal fall.
The $588-million bridge opened last July and replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco span.
It runs 3,500 feet (1,066.80 meters) over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River and connects downtown to the historic Eastside.
The bridge, which has thousands of LED lights and views of LA’s skyline, is the largest and most expensive span ever built in the city.
The bridge, is often referred to as the ‘Ribbon of Light,’ due to it undulating arches which are lit with LED lights at night. The bridge is equipped with sidewalks on each side of the viaduct, varying from 8 feet to 14 feet in width and 10-foot wide Class IV protected bike lanes on each side.
The bridge features expansive views of LA’s skyline and is the largest and most expensive span ever built in the city. It was designed to become a city landmark which ‘will rival the Hollywood Sign and Griffith Park as iconic images of our city,’ Council member Kevin de León said at it’s opening in July 2022.
Ongoing closures amid daredevil stunts and illegal takeovers
Since opening, police have closed the bridge several times as the structure became a hotspot for street racing, graffiti and illegal takeovers that drew hundreds of spectators to watch drivers perform dangerous stunts in their vehicles.
In one stunt, a man sat in a barber’s chair for a haircut in the middle of the lanes.
Another was also fatally shot on the bridge in January during unauthorized filming of a music video.
‘Tragically we see that location, while it has spawned a great deal of pride in Los Angeles, it has also unfortunately served as a backdrop now for tragedies such as this,’ Moore told the Police Commission.
‘Our added patrols will continue at that location … to counter such reckless actions.’
In the aftermath of daredevil stunts, the structure has required additional fencing and traffic enforcement.
