Teen daredevil climbs to top of huge cell tower, livestreams on social media in heart-pounding video
Heart-pounding video shows a teenage influencer climbing hundreds of feet up a Florida cell phone tower – risking his life for social media likes, according to cops.
Trent Degulis, 19, was caught scaling the tower in Riverview late Saturday — telling WTSP after he was arrested: “I wanted to see the sunset.”
The local outlet estimated that he was around 1,600 feet up the tower in police night-vision footage released Monday. However, cellular towers typically only reach around 400 feet and police did not know exactly how high he climbed.
“You made it all the way to the top-top?” a responding deputy can be heard asking the teen in bodycam footage also released Monday.
“Yeah,” Degulis replies.
“That’s pretty crazy,” the deputy responds.
The teen told deputies that he is a social media influencer who shares videos of himself climbing tall structures, a sheriff’s spokesperson told The Post.
The 19-year-old was charged with misdemeanor trespassing. He was released from the county jail the next day on a $500 bond.
Sheriff Chad Chronister praised his office’s aviation unit and deputies, saying that “their expertise and quick action ensured a potentially dangerous situation was resolved safely.”