Daredevil Teen Makes It Past Sleeping Security Guard, Frolics at Top of World Trade Center for Hours

Take a cursory look through Justin Casquejo's Twitter page, and you'll quickly see the 16-year-old New Jersey native is a lust-for-life adrenaline junkie. Many of his entries trumpet his desire to seize the day and live for excitement.

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/JustinCasquejo/status/439927573599240192"]

[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/JustinCasquejo/status/402902775396585473"]

One stunning post from last November shows what appears to be Casquejo hanging with one hand from a crane accompanied by the caption: "What have you done with your life?"

Image source: Twitter

But Casquejo upped the ante considerably over the weekend when he reportedly sneaked out of his house in Weehawken and made it past several layers of security to the spire of One World Trade Center in New York City, the New York Post reported.

It went like this:

• After Casquejo got into Manhattan, he crawled through a hole in a Ground Zero fence at about 4 a.m. Sunday;
• He allegedly entered the tower by climbing scaffolding, according to WPIX-TV;
• He moseyed up to the 88th floor (courtesy of a union elevator operator who was apparently unconcerned with Casquejo's lack of proper identification);
• He climbed the stairs to the 104th floor — where a guard was sound asleep;
• Then he headed to the roof where he frolicked for about two hours around the antenna, taking photographs.

Casquejo finally drew the attention of a construction worker as he made his way back down and was caught by security.

“He came here and he ran hog wild,” one worker told the Post.

When the Post contacted Casquejo on Wednesday about his stunt, the teen made light of it.

“Ha ha, oh yeah, that. Right. I would really love to talk to you guys because I have a lot that I want to say about it,” he told the newspaper. “I was told that I just can’t [talk] without permission.”

Casquejo has apparently been a long-time World Trade Center buff:

Image source: Twitter

Law enforcement sources told the Post that Casquejo entered the heavily guarded site like a kid sneaking into an abandoned warehouse — through a crack in a barbed-wire fence.

“He’s a skinny kid who got through a skinny hole,” the source told the Post.

“I walked around the construction site and figured out how to access the Freedom Tower rooftop,” Casquejo said, according to court papers.

Justin Casquejo (Image source: Twitter)

As for consequences, the non-inquisitive elevator operator has been reassigned, but the sleeping guard was fired. Casquejo faces a charge of misdemeanor trespassing.

Casquejo's friends began tweeting #FreeJustin when they learned of his arrest.

According to WPIX, his camera and cellphone were seized after authorities obtained a search warrant.

The Port Authority Police Department, the NYPD, and a private security company patrol the building perimeter while a different private outfit looks after the interior — none would comment to the Post.

(H/T: Weasel Zippers)