The Couple Who Climbed the Empire State Building for Love — And Got Arrested for It

Published: 25 Jul 2026

It was just after 5 a.m. on July 1, 2026, when a security camera inside the Empire State Building caught two figures dressed in black slipping through a hatch on the 102nd floor. They weren’t supposed to be there. In fact, according to investigators, they had already been inside the building for hours — having snuck in the night before and hidden until the skyscraper went quiet.

By the time most of New York City was getting ready for the workday, the pair had used tools to loosen brackets, pried open a broken lock on a security door, and begun climbing the narrow, industrial stairwell that leads to one of the most restricted places in Manhattan: the building’s broadcast antenna, towering 1,454 feet above the sidewalk.

Hours later, office workers and tourists on the street below looked up to see two tiny silhouettes standing on the spire of one of the most photographed buildings on Earth. One of them unfurled a banner. The other appeared to drop to one knee. Then, as stunned New Yorkers filmed with their phones, the couple began climbing back down — not into a getaway car, but into the arms of the New York Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit, and eventually, a pair of holding cells.

That is how Angela Nikolau, 33, and Ivan Kuznetsov, 32 — known online as Ivan “Beerkus” — got engaged. It is also how they picked up multiple felony charges, including burglary and reckless endangerment, in New York Criminal Court.

The Incident

According to the criminal complaint and New York Police Department officials, Nikolau and Kuznetsov entered the Empire State Building on the evening of June 30, 2026, and hid inside overnight, undetected by staff. At around 5 a.m. the next morning, a security camera caught them going through a hatch on the 102nd floor. Police say the pair used tools to loosen brackets to reach a stairwell, and that a lock on a security door on the 104th floor had been broken, giving them access to the building’s broadcasting antenna, more than 1,300 feet above the ground.

From there, they climbed the exterior structure of the spire itself — the narrow, latticed antenna mast that sits atop the building’s observation decks, far above any area open to the public.

Once at the top, the couple stayed for several minutes as cameras rolled below. They unfurled a black banner reading, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace” — a line often attributed to Jimi Hendrix, though it was originally spoken by 19th-century British Prime Minister William Gladstone.

As they descended, Kuznetsov appeared to drop to one knee and propose to his longtime girlfriend. Because the stunt happened so close to the building’s broadcast equipment, officers couldn’t immediately reach the couple — the antenna had to be powered down first for safety. The NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit, a specially trained tactical team, ultimately climbed the spire itself to bring the pair down.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch later described the rescue in stark terms, saying the body camera video recorded by responding officers “really can take your breath away.”

Both climbers were taken into custody at the scene. They spent their first night as an engaged couple in separate holding cells before appearing in Manhattan Criminal Court the next morning.

The Timeline

June 30, 2026 (evening): Investigators say Nikolau and Kuznetsov entered the Empire State Building and hid inside overnight, undetected by staff.

July 1, 2026, roughly 5:00 a.m.: Security cameras capture the pair emerging from a hatch on the 102nd floor. Police say they used tools to force their way toward the stairwell leading to the antenna.

July 1, 2026, daytime: The couple climbs onto the exterior antenna spire, roughly 1,454 feet above street level, in full view of the city below. They unfurl their banner and are seen embracing.

July 1, 2026, later that day: Kuznetsov appears to propose as the pair descends the spire. NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit scales the antenna to bring them down. Both are taken into custody and charged.

July 2, 2026 (Thursday morning): Nikolau and Kuznetsov are arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court, still wearing the same black climbing clothes from the day before. They are formally charged with reckless endangerment, burglary, criminal mischief and other charges. A judge grants supervised release.

July 2, 2026 (afternoon): The couple is photographed kissing at a Lower Manhattan subway station after leaving court. Their attorney tells reporters the district attorney’s office has “overcharged” the case.

Next scheduled court date: August 24, 2026.

Who Are the Key People?

Angela Nikolau, born June 24, 1993, in Moscow, grew up in a family of circus performers — her parents, Dmitriy and Olga Nikolau, both worked in the circus arts. She attended public school before transferring to a Christian School of Arts, practiced rhythmic gymnastics from age seven to sixteen, and worked as an art teacher for children starting at sixteen. She later enrolled at the Russian State Specialized Academy of Arts but left during her senior year to pursue photography and rooftopping full time. She built an Instagram following of more than a million people through self-portraits shot from the edges of skyscrapers around the world, and has described herself online as an artist exploring identity, fear, and freedom. Beyond climbing, she has experimented with NFT art, selling rooftop-inspired digital pieces through platforms like SuperRare.

Ivan Kuznetsov, known publicly as “Ivan Beerkus,” was born May 11, 1994, also in Moscow. He built his own following documenting illegal climbs of skyscrapers, cranes, and landmarks, developing a reputation as one of the more prominent men in the global rooftopping scene. He met Nikolau in 2016, and the two began climbing together almost immediately — that same year traveling to China to scale what was then the tallest construction site in the world, the Goldin Finance 117 tower in Tianjin.

Together, the couple became one of the most recognized names in extreme urban climbing, appearing in campaigns and gaining mainstream attention when their relationship and climbing career became the subject of the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, which followed them as they prepared to climb Malaysia’s Merdeka 118 — at the time the world’s second-tallest building, standing 2,227 feet.

This was not their first run-in with the law. The couple was previously arrested and spent a night in jail for trespassing after authorities caught them climbing the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. They were also investigated by Malaysian law enforcement for trespassing at Merdeka 118 four years earlier.

Their attorney, Jason Krinsky, has represented them since their arraignment and has publicly pushed back on the severity of the charges.

The Bigger Context

Nikolau and Kuznetsov didn’t invent rooftopping, but they became two of its most famous faces. The practice traces back to a form of climbing called “buildering,” which emerged in the early 20th century among English college students who climbed university buildings without protective gear, and was popularized further by climbers like Harry Gardiner, who scaled more than 700 buildings across Europe and North America starting in 1905. In its modern form, rooftopping is almost entirely about the photograph or video: climbers scale skyscrapers, cranes, and bridges — usually without ropes or harnesses — specifically to capture dramatic images for social media.

The subculture has always carried real risk. French daredevil Remi Lucidi, known as Remi Enigma, fell to his death from the 68th floor of Hong Kong’s Tregunter Towers in 2023. Chinese rooftopper Wu Yongning, a 26-year-old known for climbing skyscrapers without safety equipment, died in 2017 after falling from a 62-story building in Changsha. These deaths have periodically reignited debate over whether the activity should be treated as harmless extreme sport, reckless stunt work, or a public menace that puts first responders in danger when things go wrong.

New York’s Empire State Building itself has a long history with unauthorized climbers, most of it treated firmly as criminal trespassing. One rare exception came in 2023, when actor and musician Jared Leto was allowed to climb up to the base of the antenna from the 86th floor as an authorized promotional stunt for a concert tour. Nikolau and Kuznetsov had no such authorization.

What Investigators, Officials, and Experts Are Saying

Police and prosecutors have treated the climb as a serious security breach rather than a harmless publicity stunt. The NYPD charged both Nikolau and Kuznetsov with felony burglary, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief, along with misdemeanor counts of possession of burglar’s tools, criminal tampering, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct.

Security experts have pointed to how methodical the intrusion appears to have been. Greg Sanfilippo, vice president of Doyle Security Services, told ABC7 that the couple’s access to the building was not accidental: “They didn’t just stumble into that hatch. There was what we would call pre-observational surveillance. Someone cased the joint if you will.”

The couple’s attorney, meanwhile, has argued the charges don’t fit the crime. Krinsky told reporters after the arraignment that “even the Empire State Building’s own people said that there was no risk or danger to any of the tenants, to any of the guests on the observation deck, or anyone in the building.” He characterized the stunt itself as benign, saying “it was a message of love. You know, that’s a nice thing.” He has also said a plea negotiation could be a “possibility,” and noted that the threat of deportation is a concern for the couple, given their immigration status in the United States.

The Empire State Building’s ownership pushed back on any suggestion that its security had genuinely failed to protect the public, while notably not disputing that the breach occurred. In a statement, the company said, “There was at no time danger to tenants, visitors, and Empire State Building Observation Deck guests,” and pointed out — with a touch of marketing savvy — that its Observation Deck already offers “a practical way for the most memorable marriage proposals.”

Questions That Remain Unanswered

Several details of the case remain unresolved as of this writing. It is not publicly known exactly how the couple gained initial entry to the building the night before the climb, nor whether they had any inside help. Investigators have said the door lock on the 104th floor was broken, but it has not been confirmed publicly whether the couple broke it themselves or exploited a pre-existing maintenance failure.

It is also unclear whether Nikolau and Kuznetsov are, as her father has claimed, already legally married. Nikolau’s father, a Russian circus artist, told ABC News that the couple is already married and that the entire on-air proposal was part of a planned performance rather than a genuine, spontaneous engagement — a claim that has not been independently confirmed by the couple themselves. When asked directly after the arraignment whether they planned to marry in New York City, Nikolau responded only, “I hope so,” leaving the question open.

Finally, the couple’s immigration status and its potential consequences remain unresolved. Their attorney has raised the possibility of deportation as a concern, but no formal immigration proceedings have been publicly confirmed.

Public Reaction

The climb split public opinion almost immediately. Millions watched footage of the couple atop the spire and the apparent proposal, with much of the online reaction treating it as a romantic, awe-inspiring moment — a viral love story unfolding in real time above one of the world’s most recognizable skylines. Entertainment and lifestyle outlets highlighted the couple’s Netflix fame and their history of daring, artistic climbs.

At the same time, city officials and security professionals were far less charmed. NYPD Commissioner Tisch’s comments about the “harrowing” body camera footage reflected a very different perspective from the one many social media users had: that officers were placed in genuine danger climbing an active broadcast antenna to retrieve two civilians who had broken into a secured area of a 102-story building. The tension between these two reactions — public delight versus official alarm — has defined much of the coverage since.

What Happens Next?

Nikolau and Kuznetsov are due back in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 24, 2026. They have not yet entered a plea. Their attorney has signaled that a plea negotiation is a possibility, which could resolve the case without a trial, though the couple also faces the more serious prospect of immigration consequences given their status in the United States, according to their lawyer.

The Empire State Building’s ownership and NYPD investigators are continuing to examine how the pair managed to access and remain inside the building undetected overnight — an inquiry that could lead to security changes at the landmark regardless of how the criminal case is resolved.

Conclusion

Strip away the viral banner and the spire-top proposal, and what’s left is a more familiar story: two people with a long history of ignoring the rules that govern access to the world’s tallest buildings did it again, this time in the middle of Manhattan, and this time the audience included the New York Police Department’s tactical rescue unit. Nikolau and Kuznetsov clearly see their climbs as art — a way of turning fear and height into something worth sharing with millions of strangers. The city’s response makes clear that officials see something else: a security failure, a public safety risk, and a case that has to be prosecuted regardless of how romantic the ending looked from the sidewalk. Whether a courtroom in August treats their engagement as a charming footnote or a serious crime will say a lot about how far society is willing to let performance and spectacle bend the law — even when, this time, no one was hurt.

The Couple Who Climbed the Empire State Building for Love — And Got Arrested for It

How a secret overnight break-in, a 1,454-foot proposal, and a viral banner turned two Russian “rooftoppers” into New York’s most talked-about defendants

The Incident

The Timeline

Who Are the Key People?

The Bigger Context

What Investigators, Officials, and Experts Are Saying

Questions That Remain Unanswered

Public Reaction

What Happens Next?

Conclusion