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Steve-O Arrested For Climbing Hollywood Crane In Anti-Sea World Protest
Jackass star Steve-O was arrested last night after he broke into a construction site in Hollywood, climbed a crane, inflated a killer whale with the phrase "Seaworld Sucks" and lit off fireworks. He streamed the entire stunt on his Facebook page and Snapchat.
Steve-O's stunt elicited a major response by firefighters and police, who initially believed that he was a suicidal man preparing to jump. They set up air cushions for him just in case. But when they realized it was all just a stunt and Steve-O climbed down safely and soundly, they weren't too happy and accused him of acting like, well, a jackass.
1of 2: 81FF, Specialized units, helicopters all wasted by criminal actions. Meanwhile,REAL medical emergency for crane operator in San Pedro
— #LAFD Talk (@LAFDtalk) August 10, 2015
2of2: Risk delaying rescue of pt in critical condition, risk inherent when +18 LAFD veh responding emergency. It is not fun, it's criminal.
— #LAFD Talk (@LAFDtalk) August 10, 2015
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Steve-O knew he could get in a lot of trouble with this stunt. He wrote on his Facebook page the day before, "This is Shammy. We're gonna do a big dangerous stunt tomorrow in Los Angeles that will probably get me in a lot of trouble, and you can watch it happen at 7pm PST via a live stream on my Facebook page."
He started posting updates to Facebook and Snapchat before he even climbed the crane and he started streaming once again after he had climbed all the way to the top:
Let's do this live.
Posted by Steve-O on Sunday, August 9, 2015
By 8 p.m., police and firefighters had responded to the scene at 6094 W. Selma Ave., near the intersection of Sunset Blvd. and Gower Street. Here's what the scene looked like from the crane:
Anyone wanna bail me out of jail?
Posted by Steve-O on Sunday, August 9, 2015
By 9 p.m., Steve-O had climbed down and was taken into custody. He could face charges of trespassing, setting off fireworks without a permit and conspiracy to commit a crime, LAPD spokesman Lt. Michael Ling told KTLA. The Associated Press says he could also be charged with filming without a permit.
This isn't the first time Steve-O has gotten into trouble in the name of protesting Sea World. In May 2014, he was cited after climbing up onto a freeway sign on the 5 and defacing a sign so that it read: "Sea World SUCKS." He was charged with an infraction and ordered to pay a $239 fine.
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