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Man climbs City Hall tower, officials realize it when he posts video

He annoyed city officials, who had no idea.

Extreme travel writer Carson King climbed the City Hall tower a few months ago and posted video this week.
Extreme travel writer Carson King climbed the City Hall tower a few months ago and posted video this week.Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

Philadelphia police want to talk to the extreme travel writer who climbed to the top of City Hall and posted a seven-minute panoramic video.

According to CBS Philly, Carson King scaled the scaffolding a few months ago, but only posted the footage this week. It's unclear how much raw footage was shot and edited down to seven minutes for his "Exploring With Carson" YouTube page.

At an afternoon press conference, Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, a police spokesman, conveyed this message to others considering a skyscraper climb: It's dangerous, it's a crime and don't do it. Kinebrew invited the YouTuber to "stroll down to talk about what happened."

Detectives and the prosecutors will decide whether to bring criminal trespassing charges against him.

King wrote that he scaled the tower by himself for documentation purposes only and nothing was vandalized. As of Tuesday afternoon, King's video had more than 7,200 views.

"This is insane," he's heard saying as he climbs the outside of City Hall on the mostly silent video. When he completes the climb, King says, "On top of the clock tower, City Hall, in Philadelphia."

Kinebrew said local reporters spotted the video and brought it to the attention of the mayor's office.

"We're extremely concerned by this video," city spokesman Mike Dunn said in a statement. "What this person did was dangerous and illegal. The scaffolding is now down, but Philadelphians should be aware of the extreme risk they pose to their personal safety if they engage in activity like this."

(Philly.com urges readers not to try a similar stunt. We don't want to write a follow-up story about your free fall into the courtyard.)

The posting of the City Hall video comes a week after two photographers were arrested after climbing 250 feet to the tower at the top of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.