Russian couple who scaled Empire State Building accused of breaking security door to get to spire

NEW YORK – Two people who illegally ascended the needle of the Empire State Building on July 1 trespassed onto the Manhattan landmark overnight and broke into several restricted areas before making their climb, according to a criminal complaint made public on July 2 in criminal court.

The couple, Angela Nikolau, 33, and Ivan Beerkus, 32, unfurled a banner with a message about love and got engaged as news helicopters whirled around them. They were then arrested by police.

They were arraigned on July 2 in criminal court on multiple charges, including burglary and reckless endangerment.

According to prosecutors, Beerkus, who is identified in court documents as Ivan Kuznetsov, told police he wanted to “do something special for his engagement”.

For Nikolau and Beerkus, who live in East Orange, New Jersey, their stunt in midtown Manhattan was not their first terrifying ascent.

The couple, who are from Russia, were the subjects of a 2024 documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story, about their romance and quest for thrills and fame.

They have climbed commercial buildings worldwide, often posting about it to their large social media following.

On July 2, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office said the couple engaged in “extreme risk-taking behaviour”, and “continually create a risk to their own lives, as well as the lives of New Yorkers and first responders”.

After their arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on a litany of charges, they were given supervised release and ordered to return for a court date in August.

Their lawyer, Jason Krinsky, said his clients were “overcharged”.

The couple were not a risk to anyone but themselves, he said, adding that if they had lost their footing, the hexagonal platform below the antenna would have prevented them from falling farther.

Prosecutors “wanted to make a message out of my clients, and that’s why they charged them so harshly”, he said. “This was a message of love, not a message of hatred or violence.”

The criminal complaint said a lock on a security door on the Empire State Building’s 104th floor, which has access to the broadcast antenna, had been broken.

The cost to repair the damage is estimated at about US$2,000 (S$2,500), according to an investigator.

The couple then climbed the broadcast antenna approximately 426m to 457m feet above the ground, according to the complaint.

To arrest them, officers with the New York Police Department’s Emergency Services Unit had to wait 30 minutes for the antenna to power down before they scaled the building.

The antenna “emits high-frequency radio signals that are powerful enough to cause harm to the human body”, according to the complaint.

On July 2, the couple emerged from court hand in hand, still wearing the black athleisure they had been recorded wearing the day before.

Outside the courthouse, Beerkus said he had chosen to unfurl the banner with the message, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace” because “we believe in the power of love”.

He confirmed that the couple were engaged at the apex of the Empire State Building and that the ring was in police custody.

A scrum of reporters followed the pair as they made their way from the courthouse down to the Chambers Street subway station, where they stopped on the steps and shared a drawn-out kiss for cameras. NYTIMES