The Los Angeles Police Department has opened a criminal investigation after daredevil Ben Schneider, known by his YouTube persona “Reckless Ben,” posted a video of his death-defying tightrope walk between the infamous unfinished Oceanwide Plaza towers in downtown Los Angeles earlier this month. In this article we talk about LAPD Launches Investigation into Graffiti Tower Tightrope Walker.
The Heart-Stopping Feat 45 Stories High
In the video that has since gone viral, Schneider is seen walking on a thin nylon rope suspended 450 feet in the air between two towers of the abandoned Oceanwide Plaza construction site. He carefully places one foot in front of the other as he traverses the slackline, which stretches nearly the entire length of a football field. The nerve-wracking stunt lasts just over 2 minutes, but that’s more than enough time for something to go terribly wrong at that height. Miraculously, Schneider makes it across safely.
“This is the biggest canvas the world has ever seen,” Schneider told local news station KCAL about his feat. “I’m not much of a graffiti artist, but I can do some crazy performance art, so I put up the slackline. It’s still there.”
Oceanwide Plaza: The Unfinished Eyesore Attracting Thrill-Seekers
The daring slackline walk is just the latest in a string of viral stunts and acts of vandalism occurring at Oceanwide Plaza since construction halted on the $1 billion downtown development in 2019. The 1.5 million-square-foot property contains three towering skyscrapers, two of which have sat unfinished, without windows or walls, since work stopped due to financial troubles with the Chinese developer.
As an unfinished eyesore sitting vacant in the heart of Los Angeles, Oceanwide Plaza has become a giant, open canvas attracting graffiti artists, urban explorers, BASE jumpers and now slackliners. The more daring and illegal the act documented and shared on social media, the more clicks and views it generates. For adrenaline junkies like Schneider, the opportunity to perform death-defying stunts high above downtown L.A. while plastering videos across YouTube and Instagram is too tempting to pass up.
Police Crack Down on Oceanwide Plaza Trespassers
Law enforcement has had enough of the attention-seeking trespassers that continue invading the abandoned development. Earlier this year, several arrests were made and patrols increased around the fenced-off property. The city even allocated over $1 million to better secure the site, add additional fencing, and clean up graffiti.
But despite added security, people keep finding ways inside, as evidenced by Schneider’s slackline antics. Prior to the walk, he and his crew managed to sneak past police and security into the towers.
“The first half of the stunt was getting onto the downtown L.A. property with Schneider and his crew sneaking by police to get inside,” said a friend of Schneider’s who witnessed the tightrope walk.
Reckless Ben Under Criminal Investigation
Thanks to Schneider publicizing the illegal stunt on social media under his “Reckless Ben” persona, LAPD now has clear evidence to open a criminal investigation on the urban explorer.
“But now I got to walk with a mask around because there is an active investigation on me,” Schneider told KCAL News following the slackline walk. The video has since been removed from his popular YouTube page, likely due to the heat from law enforcement.
In the interview, Schneider is seen wearing a duck mask to conceal his identity after openly admitting to the trespassing feat on camera. But his face has already been plastered across numerous news articles and videos about the slackline walk.
It’s only a matter of time before the daring YouTuber is identified and prosecuted for trespassing and illegally accessing the restricted development site. Until then, LAPD will surely keep a close watch on activity at Oceanwide Plaza and anyone who looks remotely like the social media star known as Reckless Ben. I sincerely hope you find this “LAPD Launches Investigation into Graffiti Tower Tightrope Walker-Daring Stunt or Criminal Act?” article helpful.