Two people in custody after scaling to top of Empire State Building

By Ray Sanchez, Mark Morales, CNN

(CNN) — Two daredevils on Wednesday evaded security and climbed to the top of the needle of the Empire State Building, where they unfurled a banner about 1,450 feet above the sweltering city and appeared to propose before their stunt ended up with them in police custody.

The extraordinary breach of security at one of New York City’s most iconic landmarks occurred just around noon during a whirlwind summer in the city.

It comes weeks after the New York Knicks’ first championship in 53 years led to raucous, sometimes destructive celebrations and a heightened NYPD presence amid World Cup matches and the upcoming wedding celebration of pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce expected at Madison Square Garden.

The masked individuals – identified by a law enforcement official as Angela Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov – were taken into custody without incident. They face multiple charges related to the incident and the investigation remains ongoing, the official said.

Investigators are still working to determine how the well-known stunt performers accessed a restricted area not open to the public, according to a law enforcement official. Two Emergency Service Unit officers climbed four ladders to reach the pair at the top of the spire, escorted them down safely and took them into custody. Both individuals were still being processed at a local precinct Wednesday.

“Stay where you are,” an officer says in a gripping bodycam video recorded high above the city.

“How are you doing? You can’t be up here,” the officer said.

“I’m OK,” the woman responded. Her face was blurred by police in the video.

Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told CNN the dangerous stunt put city and police officials, as well as the building owners, in a “tough spot.”

“They are going to have to do whatever they can to see that these people are prosecuted for any appropriate charges because they cannot take the chance that others will see this and decide to also try it,” McCabe said.

The pair, who reside in New Jersey, were charged with burglary — which under state law means entering or remaining in a building with the intent to commit a crime – as well as reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, criminal tampering, criminal trespass and other counts, according to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information.

Angela Nikolau, 33, who has been identified as one of the two climbers, posted photos and video from the escapade on Instagram, including a shot of her engagement ring with the city in the background.

Her account features dozens of posts showing Nikolau and co-climber Kuznetsov, 32, who goes by Ivan Beerkus, posing at the top of various buildings and tall structures.

A pinned post at the top of her page promotes “Skywalkers: A Love Story,” a Netflix documentary from 2024.

Netflix’s description of the documentary describes the couple as “daredevil influencers,” who “risk their romance freedom and lives to climb a mega-skyscraper.”

Netflix declined comment on Wednesday.

Atop the antenna on Wednesday afternoon, the couple unfurled a banner that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace,” according to video and images from the scene.

“The last thing that people who are responsible for the Empire State Building want is to turn this place into a target for that sort of activity, because ultimately it will end in some sort of tragedy. The danger here, the recklessness, is obvious and can’t be overstated,” McCabe added.

Air traffic control audio captured a moment between an NYPD helicopter pilot and a LaGuardia air traffic controller during the stunt.

“What’s all the hoopla going on over there?” the air traffic controller asks, according to ATC.com.

“Two geniuses climbed to the top of the Empire State Building at the top of the spire,” the officer responds.

“Oh, that’s awesome.”

“They had some flag they were waving when they were up at the top,” the officer says. “And he just proposed to her.”

It was not clear how the pair managed to reach the very top of the 1,454-foot landmark.

Elisa Morales, on her lunch break in Midtown Manhattan, watched with others on nearby streets as the stunt unfolded.

“If it is a proposal, I don’t think that’s a proposal I would want, but I commend them for using something personal to try to make a more global impact,” she told CNN. “We just had the Knicks win a championship, so a lot of craziness went on there. I think right now in New York, you have to go to an extreme to try to top what’s been going on.”

The antenna at the top of the Empire State Building transmits broadcast signals for virtually all of New York’s local TV and radio stations.

Trespassing climbers have long been attracted to New York’s famous skyscrapers, despite the security.

A French daredevil known as “Spiderman” – Alain Robert – has scaled the Willis Tower, then called the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Empire State Building in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In 1974, Philippe Petit was arrested after a headline-making highwire walk between the towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

This story has been updated with additional information.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Brian Stelter, Jason Carroll, Jeff Winter, Sneha Dhandapani, David Williams, Graham Hurley and Jessica Prater contributed to this report.