A “rooftopping” couple that scaled the Empire State Building and got engaged 1,400 feet above New York City was arrested on Wednesday, according to multiple reports.
Russian blogger and rooftopper Ivan Beerkus proposed to his girlfriend, Russian rooftopper and artist Angela Nikolau from the top of the Empire State Building.
Video footage posted to social media shows the couple embracing and kissing after Beerkus got down on one knee to propose, after which Nikolau was seen admiring her new engagement ring and photographing her hand against the New York City skyline.
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Beerkus and Nikolau are also stars of Netflix’s 2024 documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story. Wednesday’s dangerous stunt, however, had no connection to the streaming platform, according to a report by Deadline.
The 2024 film follows the couple as they travel “worldwide to climb the 118-story megatall skyscraper, Merdeka 118, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, attempting a bold acrobatic stunt on the spire to salvage both their career and relationship,” according to the documentary’s IMDb page.
During their daring stunt in New York City on Wednesday, Beerkus and Nikolau unfurled a large black banner that read: “When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace.”
Police began receiving a flood of 911 calls around 12:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday after the two were spotted 1,454 feet above New York City atop the Empire State Building’s spire antenna, according to a report by NBC New York.
Beerkus and Nikolau climbed down onto a perch after spending around 30 minutes on the spire, at which point Beerkus got down on one knee and proposed to Nikolau while the world watched.
The duo then reportedly climbed down the Empire State Building about 10 minutes later.
After descending to ground level, Beerkus and Nikolau were immediately taken into custody by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Police later determined — after reviewing surveillance footage from the Empire State Building — that the couple had accessed the spire through a maintenance hatch on the building’s 102nd floor, according to a report from ABC’s Eyewitness News.
The two daredevils are now facing a slew of charges which include burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, violation of local law, possession of burglar’s tools, criminal tampering, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct, Complex reported.
“The unauthorized incident at the building has been resolved with the constructive and helpful coordination of the NYPD,” an Empire State Building spokesperson told the New York Post.
“There was at no time danger to tenants, visitors, and Empire State Building Observation Deck guests,” the spokesperson added.
The couple, who live in East Orange, New Jersey, was arraigned on Thursday morning after spending the first night of their engagement in separate holding cells, according to a report by ABC7 New York.
Beerkus and Nikolau, who began dating in 2016, have gained notoriety for their illegal “rooftopping” stunts over the years, with Nikolau posting some of the thrill-seeking footage to her Instagram account.
“NO RISK NO STORY,” Nikolau wrote in a caption of an Instagram post earlier this year, sharing a video of her standing atop another skyscraper’s spire.
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“Today I’m celebrating my birthday,” the 33-year-old wrote in the caption of another Instagram post on Tuesday before asking her 1.9 million followers to “tell me what you think I truly need to hear” rather than sending her “the usual birthday wishes.”
The post included video footage of Nikolau lying atop a narrow, extremely high platform on a skyscraper.
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Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
