A 17-year-old boy died early Saturday after plummeting from a bridge he was climbing for an apparent social media stunt, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The teenager “slipped and fell to his death” on one of the 6th Street Viaduct’s iconic arches, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said. Police found the boy after arriving on the scene around 2 a.m. He was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after. The teen’s identity was not immediately released, but Moore said he’d been documenting the climb for “a social media broadcast.” He did not share the social media platform the boy had been using. “Tragically we see that location, while it has spawned a great deal of pride in Los Angeles, it has also unfortunately served as a backdrop now for tragedies such as this,” Moore said. “Our added patrols will continue at that location… to counter such reckless actions.” The $588 million bridge has drawn crowds and controversy in the months since its opening last July, with police shutting it down several times in response to illegal graffiti and street racing.
