Local electeds seek higher punishments for bridge trespassers
After another trespassing incident rocked one of the city’s bridges – the RFK Triborough Bridge – on Wednesday, March 25 — elected officials are banding together to higher punishment for trespassers with a new bill that would treat any “individual trespass on infrastructure” as a Class A Misdemeanor.
Last month’s incident, in which multiple climbers scaled the RFK Bridge and posted photos of their climb on the internet, follows several security breaches of the Brooklyn Bridge within the past year, most dramatically one in which the American flags atop the bridge were replaced by white flags by a pair of German artists.
“Whether the Robert F. Kennedy Triborough Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge or the Lincoln Tunnel, trespassing on our city’s vital infrastructure is too high a risk to be tolerated,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. “Trying to see New York City’s beautiful views shouldn’t come while risking the safety of other New Yorkers and visitors. The New York State legislature must pass the Critical Infrastructure Safety Act to discourage this chronic trespassing on the infrastructure that keeps our city’s economy moving.”