NYPD scrambled helicopters, drones, and Emergency Services officers with bodycams to nab two Russian influencers who climbed the Empire State Building's antenna Wednesday — the kind of full-court press Manhattanites can only wish applied to the repeat offenders cycling through progressive DA offices every day.
Angela Nikolau, 33, and Ivan Beerkus, 32 — Russian-born rooftop climbers now living in East Orange, New Jersey — scaled the 1,454-foot spire around noon, unfurled a black banner reading "When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace," and got engaged at the top. NYPD bodycam footage released by Commissioner Jessica Tisch shows officers reaching the pair on the antenna. "How you doing? You can't be up here!" an officer says. "I'm OK," Nikolau responds. The two were taken into custody without incident.
The stunt was reckless and illegal. Nobody disputes that. Charges are pending, and CBS News reported they include burglary, criminal trespass, and reckless endangerment. But the contrast is the story: when the system's own landmarks are touched, resources materialize instantly. When ordinary New Yorkers are victimized by career criminals, the same apparatus shrugs.
The NYPD deployed at least one helicopter and a drone to monitor the scene, according to The Guardian — aviation assets that don't materialize when a bodega owner gets robbed for the third time. CNN brought on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to warn that prosecutors "cannot take the chance that others will see this and decide to also try it." The last thing building owners want, McCabe said, is the landmark becoming "a target for that sort of activity." Curious how the same urgency never attaches to subway shovers or smash-and-grab crews.
The Empire State Building insisted there was "at no time danger to tenants, visitors, and Empire State Building Observation Deck guests" — then couldn't resist plugging its observation deck as "a practical way for the most memorable marriage proposals." ABC7 noted that Jared Leto was permitted to climb from the 86th floor to the antenna base in 2023 to promote a tour. Unauthorized for thee, authorized for Hollywood.
Nikolau and Beerkus are serial stunt climbers profiled in the 2024 Netflix documentary "Skywalkers: A Love Story." Their social media accounts are packed with photos atop the world's tallest structures — the Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur, Bay Ridge in San Francisco, Tianjin, China. They're attention seekers with a Netflix deal, not folk heroes. How they accessed the 103rd floor remains unexplained.
The New York Post framed the pair as "attention-hungry twerps" and highlighted the cringe banner; NBC buried the news under a paragraph about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's possible wedding. The real question got lost in both: why does New York's law enforcement apparatus move mountains for a building and molasses for the people who actually fund it?
