A 17-year-old boy slipped and plummeted to his death from the popular new 6th Street Viaduct in Los Angeles, after climbing the bridge as part of an apparent social media stunt, according to police.
The youth’s body was found at about 2 a.m. Saturday on the eastern side of the span, which has become a troubling magnet for gunplay, dangerous stunts and careless online clout-chasing since it opened about a year ago.
The teen, whose name has not been released, was taken to LA County USC Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday during a meeting of the Los Angeles Police Commission that the victim lost his footing and fell “when climbing upon one of the arches, in order to post, apparently, a social media broadcast.”
The bridge opened in July 2022 and instantly became a city landmark.
The $588 million span, which replaced an 84-year-old Art Deco bridge, runs 3,500 feet over the concrete-lined Los Angeles River and connects downtown to the historic Eastside.
The 6th Street Viaduct, which glitters with thousands of LED lights and offers breathtaking views of LA’s skyline, is the largest and most expensive project of its kind ever built in the city.
But the bridge has been a source of trouble in LA, forcing police to repeatedly close the span after it became a hotspot for street racing, graffiti and illegal takeovers drawing massive crowds.
The bridge also has served as a backdrop to wild social media stunts, including one instance in which a daredevil sat in a barber’s chair and got a haircut in the middle of the lanes as cars zoomed by.
In January, a man was shot dead on a pedestrian ramp of the bridge during unsanctioned filming of a music video.
“Tragically we see that location, while it has spawned a great deal of pride in Los Angeles, it has also unfortunately served as a backdrop now for tragedies such as this,” Moore told the Police Commission. “Our added patrols will continue at that location … to counter such reckless actions.”
With Post wires
