In what appears to have been a prank for social media, a young man of 17 years of age died this past weekend after falling from a bridge he was climbing in Los Angeles. At approximately two in the morning on Saturday, law enforcement officers were dispatched to the 6th Street Viaduct, where they located the youngster, who was later confirmed dead at a local hospital. It took some time before his name was made public.
The incident occurred “when the juvenile was climbing upon one of the arches in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast,” said Police Chief Michel Moore on Tuesday during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission. The youngster slipped and fell as they were attempting to post the broadcast on social media.
July of 2016 saw the opening of the bridge. Connecting downtown Los Angeles to the historic Eastside is a bridge that cost $588 million and spans 3,500 feet across a concrete-lined section of the Los Angeles River. The bridge replaced an Art Deco span that was 84 years old.
The bridge is the largest and most expensive span that has ever been constructed in the city of Los Angeles. It also features thousands of LED lights and vistas of the city’s skyline. It was envisioned as a prominent feature in the cityscape.
According to CBS Los Angeles, the bridge has been a frequent target of unlawful activities such as burnouts, sideshows, takeovers, and other types of trespassing. For example, one individual was observed receiving a haircut in the middle of the road. As a direct consequence of this, the authorities were forced to shut down the bridge for many days. CBS Los Angeles reported that as a result of these instances, the police department initiated a traffic enforcement operation. To remove graffiti off the bridge in a timely manner, the Public Works Committee of the Los Angeles City Council has proposed that the full council allocate more than $700.000 for the project.
In January, a man was shot and killed on the bridge while unofficially recording a music video. The shooting occurred on the bridge. Moore told the Police Commission that “tragically we see that location, while it has spawned a great deal of pride in Los Angeles, it has also unfortunately served as a backdrop for tragedies such as this.” “We see it as a backdrop for tragedies now,” Moore said. “Our heightened patrols will remain in place at that location… to prevent further reckless actions.”
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