Emily Brown
A man who calls himself the 'pro life Spiderman' scaled San Francisco's tallest building in bid to raise money for anti-abortion charities.
Activist Maison DesChamps took to social media to share posts about the stunt on Tuesday (3 May), with images showing him clinging to the side of the 1,070-foot-tall Salesforce Tower, the 17th-tallest building in the US.
Take a look at his stunt below:
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Authorities are said to have been made aware of the situation at about 9:21am local time, when onlookers informed them someone was scaling the building.
It took DesChamps more than an hour to reach the top of the 61-floor building, and when he arrived at about 10:50am he was met by authorities who handcuffed him and escorted him into the building, NBC Bay Area reports.
Police said the 22-year-old, from Las Vegas, was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest following his free-climb up the side of the tower. He was cited and released later the same day.
In an interview with ABC7 after the incident, DesChamps described the climb as 'fun' and said he'd 'do it again'. He said he had been planning the climb for a month, using Google Maps to assess the building, and set out on Tuesday after arriving at the airport and taking an Uber to the tower.
Asked whether he was scared, the climber responded: "No...I cut my feet which means bringing your feet off the wall and I hung one off one hand to show off a little bit ya know? I wanted to post some videos so they would get out while I was in jail."
DesChamps expressed hopes he would raise $1 million to support anti-abortion charities, claiming doctors were 'literally killing these babies on the table and leaving them out to die'.
"We're not trying to yell at women who want to have an abortion, we don't want to blame them... we just want to let them know there are other options," he continued.
DesChamps called out on doctor in particular on one of his social media posts, arguing he should face investigation and be 'put in jail'.
He added: "The mission is simple: destroy what is evil and protect what is innocent. The aim of this project is not to blame women but instead to support them. Women have become victims of cultural and societal pressures."
The 22-year-old had previously been arrested for climbing the 600ft Aria hotel in Las Vegas in protest of Covid-19 mandates.
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