A 22-year-old man was taken into custody on Tuesday for allegedly climbing more than 60 floors of Aria Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in protest of the COVID-19 mask mandate.
The man identified as Des Champs says he climbed the 600 foot hotel tower in honor of his grandfather, who died last year during the pandemic.
Des Champs also plan another protest on 14th August outside Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, this time not involving urban climbing. Planet Hollywood is on the opposite side of the Aria resort corridor.
Des Champs started climbing Aria at 5:30 am, 30 minutes later, a man spotted him and informed the police. The police booked him in and charged him with counts of trespassing.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Department Dori Koren posted a Tik Tok video of Des Champs climbing the tower on his Twitter account.
“Yesterday, our officers faced another unique challenge, this time being an urban climber ascending 60+floors. This reckless act is extremely dangerous and very illegal. That’s why our team was read to rescue and arrest the suspect.”
Des Champs told Las Vegas Review-Journal that he would be arrested, but took the risk. Last week, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) announced the reinstatement of wearing of mask in public spaces. The order was issued following the Center for Disease Control Prevention guidance.
Mask wearing mandate was reinstated last Friday and applies to people in public spaces and applies to the vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
