A Russian tourist who was arrested after strolling up suspension cables to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge told cops his stunt was all for “fun” — but authorities aren’t laughing.
“It raises a concern, for sure,” Mayor de Blasio told reporters Monday.
Yaroslav Kolchin, 24, nonchalantly walked to the top of the Brooklyn-side tower Sunday at about noon, court papers state.
“The defendant stated in sum and substance that he did it for fun,” Assistant District Attorney Laurie Cartwright said in court Monday.
After Sunday’s incident and another last month, when two German artists swapped the American flags on each tower for white ones, de Blasio said, “We are in the process of making changes in the way we approach the bridges that are our responsibility.
“This individual [Sunday] should have known better, it was quite obviously not a place for an individual citizen to go. He was arrested very promptly. But we obviously want to keep doing better. We’re in the process of looking at the bridges in terms of all the different security elements, we want to add to them going forward, and we will be doing that in short order,” de Blasio said.
“Yes, we are the No. 1 terror target in the world,” de Blasio said. “But we’re also the most prepared of any city in the world to fight terrorism and stop terrorism.”
Kolchin, who hails from Moscow, is single, works at an advertising firm and traveled to New York with a tour group, defense lawyer Paul Liu said in court.
Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Raymond Rodriguez set Kolchin’s bail at $5,000 – but it sounds like that’s still too high for the thrill-seeking Muscovite.
“Judge, my client does not anticipate making bail anytime soon,” Liu said.
Kolchin also handed over his Russian passport.