Photos: Man Arrested After Climbing NY Times Building In Midtown

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A man was taken into custody Thursday evening after he tried to climb the New York Times Building in Midtown, drawing a crowd and a significant police response.

Wilmer Ferrara, 36, of Lawrence, Mass., began his climb shortly after 5 p.m. on the south side of the building, on West 40th Street just west of Times Square.

Times reporter Nick Corasaniti tweeted at 5:27 p.m. that a “fire safety command” came over the building's loudspeakers, warning occupants that someone was climbing the 1,046-foot skyscraper.

At some point, Ferrara apparently gave up on his vertical ascent, instead resting on a pair of diagonal support beams, captured on video shot by witness David Menendez. Police shut down Eighth Avenue while a crowd formed at the base of the building, CBS News reported.

Ferrara got as high as the building's sixth floor, stopping because he had gotten tired, according to CBS. Emergency responders dragged Ferrara in from a sixth-floor window and took him into custody just before 6 p.m.

Ferrara has been charged with reckless endangerment, obstruction of governmental administration and criminal trespassing, an NYPD spokesperson said.

The building, which includes a ladder-like facade, has been a popular target for climbers. Three different men tried to scale it in 2008, two of them making it to the roof, with other climbs taking place in 2011 and 2012, NBC reported.