http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/05/31/jailing-your-friendly-neighborhood-spider-man/May 31, 2007, 11:46 am
Jailing Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man
By Mike Nizza
Tags: china
Jailing Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man
In 2001, Alain Roberts bragged that he could climb the building with one hand. Still impressed? Us too.
Last week, there were snakes on a plane — almost. The man was stopped at customs. This week, another man stepped boldly into a movie-imitating mission, and succeeded.
Alain Robert, a 44-year-old Frenchman, has scaled the three tallest buildings in the world, and also the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building.
Shanghai’s 88-story Jinmao Tower was his next target, and he climbed it today in 90 minutes while wearing a Spider-Man outfit. (It doesn’t look like he’s getting any of the estimated $120 million in marketing cash for the latest sequel).
Alain Roberts highlight reel.
“His feet had barely touched the ground when he was arrested by police,” Reuters reported. He expects to serve 15 days in jail.
If there is such a thing as a more serious, premeditated charge having to do with building climbing, Mr. Robert will certainly be guilty. In 2001, Chinese authorities rejected his requests to climb the Shanghai building.
The first person to scale the tower — a 31-year-old Chinese man named Han Qizhi — claimed he was “struck by a rash impulse.” That yielded about a two-week sentence, Reuters said.
Mr. Roberts does it for the thrill, but Mr. Han evidently was trying to promote his shoe business. That’s right, Al Bundy beat that comic book “super hero” to the top.
