Weehawken 16-year-old Justin Casquejo pulled a fast one on the guards at One World Trade Center on Sunday, reaching the spire of the 1,776-foot-tall tower around 4AM and hanging out for at least two hours. Some people’s rebellious teenage phases are just cooler than others.
According to the New York Post, the whole thing went down in a hilariously banal fashion: After coming into the city from New Jersey, Justin Casquejo crawled through a hole in the WTC security fence (“he’s a skinny kid who got through a skinny hole,” a source tells the Post). There, he asked an elevator operator to take him up to the 88th floor. The operator, it seems, was more than happy to do the bidding of an ID-less minor demanding a ride in a union elevator in the middle of the night. So far so good!
Casquejo’s real pièce de résistance took place at the top floor — 104 — which he climbed up to after getting off the elevator at floor 88. There, he snuck past a slumbering guard and made it out onto the roof of the WTC, where he hung out for two hours, presumably until the rising sun woke the snoozing guard (who has since been fired, which, aw).
Inspired.
— Justin (@JustinCasquejo) March 18, 2014
According to sources, he “ran hog wild” up there taking photos, which probably make his Russian counterparts look pathetic. But sadly, this single tweet was his only internet-bound response to the adventure. [NYPost]
Lead Image: AP photo/Mark Lennihan