“Rooftopper” James McNally, a.k.a. @jamakiss, was busted for summitting 70 Pine St. in the Financial District, but he climbs buildings all over Manhattan. He snapped this skyscraper selfie atop Midtown’s General Electric Building at 570 Lexington Ave.
BY COLIN MIXSON
From the top of the world to under arrest.
Daredevil shutterbug James McNally was arraigned in criminal court for reckless endangerment and criminal trespass on Monday, on charges stemming from an alleged 2015 break-in of a high-rise apartment building in the Financial District that the photographer documented in a video and stunning pictures that he posted online.
The adventuresome photographer, who was featured in the Mar. 10 edition of Downtown Express, said that management at 70 Pine Street was concerned that shots of his exploits would embolden other would-be thrill-seekers to scale the 952-foot tower, but he argues that having him arrested won’t deter imitators.
“They are concerned about publicity around the building as an [urban exploration] destination, and presumably about me potentially intending to go back there,” said McNally, who used the alias Jamakiss when posting images of his high-rise exploits online. “However, having me arrested will not get them any closer to their goals for the property’s security or profile.”
Management at DTH Capital, which owns 70 Pine Street along with Rose Associates, became aware of McNally’s exploits after he posted video footage of his daring trespass in October 2015.
The video, which can be viewed on McNally’s website and on YouTube, shows the photographer and a group of friends sneaking past security on the building’s ground floor, and then ascending 64 flights of stairs to the building’s top floor, where McNally proceeds to climb out and dangle off the edifice’s crowning spire.
But that footage was ultimately used against the photographer, and court documents refer to both photographs and video showing McNally on the roof of 70 Pine Street.
McNally is part of the so-called “rooftopping” phenomenon, in which daring photographers sneak to the top of highly secure, marquee skyscrapers to capture breathtaking images of the urban vistas beyond.
The rooftopping craze is linked to the advent of Instagram, according to McNally, and since the photo-sharing app’s debut in 2010, the trend has seen a steady increase in popularity.
Before pressing charges, property managers at 70 Pine St., along with representatives from other towers similarly invaded by outlaw photographers, met with members of Community Board 1 and officers of the First Precinct on March 2 in an effort to better understand how to defend themselves from the rooftopper rampage.
The property managers expressed concern that this fad among young photographers is exploding in popularity, and that the trend is only going to pick up steam once the weather warms, according to a representative for 70 Pine St.
“It’s cool and everybody’s going to want to do it,” said Joseph Alexander, development project manager for DTH Capital, which owns the former office tower now being converted to luxury residential. “There’s a clear intention that people want to continue to climb, and when the weather gets nicer, with these videos getting several thousands hits, each year there’s going to be an incident.”
But McNally probably won’t face hard time for his transgressions.
The penalties for such trespassing aren’t particularly stiff — especially when a private building has a public lobby, which allows defense attorneys to argue for a motion to have charges pared down to a simple violation, according to police officer Brian Nelson.
“Private buildings, even though they’re private, if the public has access to them their lawyer will claim they have a right to be in a building … which would knock it down to a violation from a misdemeanor,” Nelson said at the meeting.
And even if prosecutors were able to make a misdemeanor charge stick, judges usually avoid handing out the maximum 90-day sentence to first-time offenders in favor of an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or ACD, which essentially lets the culprit avoid jail while doing community service, according to Zachary Johnson, a criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor with the District Attorney’s Office.
“For a first offense that would probably be an ACD, which is a six-month stay-out-of-trouble and a few days community service,” said Johnson.
DTH Capital declined to comment. for this story.
You can view McNally’s excursion to he top of 70 Pine St. at his website: https://www.jamakiss.com/skycamping.
