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Onlookers below cheered -- and an untold number monitored the drama online and on local TV -- quickly yanked him inside at 6:34 p.m.
Daily Voice found a YouTube video posted Tuesday by the climber, whom the NYPD identified as Stephen Rogata of Virginia: Message to Mr. Trump (why I climbed your tower)
Police earlier broke out windows, draped moving blankets and talked with the long-haired, mutton-chopped climber, who wore a baseball cap, green t-shirt, gym shorts and rock-climbing shoes and carried a backpack.
They then began lowering a window-washing scaffold with officers inside, blocking his path, but then lifted it up and brought it down the side of the building next to him. They also inflated a large cushion on the street below him.
The climber boosted himself using color-coded straps after fastening and tightening the five cups, which ordinarily are used to move enormous panes of glass.
He was still slowly ascending the 58-story tower, having reached the 19th floor just before 6 p.m., after beginning his climb on the 5th-floor atrium around 3:45 p.m.
At that point, the officers maneuvered a scaffold and removed a large pane of glass as the man approached, then grabbed him and pulled him inside.
Rush-hour traffic was jammed as onlookers gathered. Both Fifth Avenue and 56th Street were closed.
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