What's the worst possible time to try and sneak by security? Right after someone else did it and got caught. Police in New York say a couple of CNN producers didn't follow that little piece of advice.
ANCHOR: "The two are accused of repeatedly trying to get into a restricted area of New York's World Trade Center site. They were apparently trying to test the security there. CNN says the men were not asked to sneak into the site." (Via WJLA)
Police arrested 35-year-old Yon Pomrenze and 26-year-old Connor Boals for trespassing, obstructing governmental administration and disorderly conduct after officers said they tried to enter the site several times. (Via WNYW)
The New York Post cites a source who says when the pair were first stopped by an officer during one attempt, they quipped, “if a 16-year-old could get on the site, they should be able to get in.”
They were, of course, referring to the other major security breaches at the site revealed this month.
New Jersey teenager Justin Casquejo was arrested in mid-March for sneaking through a hole in a fence and then making it all the way to the building's antenna to take pictures. (Via NBC)
And then there was this. (Via YouTube / NYC B.A.S.E. Jump)
The B.A.S.E. jumpers in that video actually jumped from the World Trade Center tower back in September, but they released the video and were arrested Monday saying it was incredibly easy to get on the site only evading one security guard. (Via ABC)
MARCO MARKOVICH: "It was pretty simply, actually — scarily enough. We found a little hole in a fence between a wall and a fence and we just pushed it open, walked right in." (Via CBS)
Those breaches led to interviews with upset New Yorkers who lost family members in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Mayor Bill de Blasio vowing to work with the Port Authority to shore up security.
As for this latest incident, The New York Times reports CNN released a statement acknowledging the men were doing a “story about the recent incidents at the W.T.C. and other sites — the notion that daredevils are being drawn to them.”
Again, CNN says Pomrenze and Boals were not asked to sneak onto the site.
