Jackass Star Steve-O Arrested After 100ft crane Seaworld Protest
“Jackass” star Steve-O was arrested Sunday night after drawing emergency responders to a Hollywood construction site where he climbed a crane towering at least 100 feet above ground in a protest against Seaworld, police said.
On Saturday, Steve-O posted a photo of himself holding an inflatable whale on his official Instagram account and announced that he would be performing a “big dangerous stunt.” Steve-O told fans about his daredevil plans earlier in the day when he posted a photo of himself with “Shammy” the inflatable whale.
Steve-O and Shammy the inflatable whale. Via
He wrote: “This is Shammy. We’re going to do a big dangerous stunt in Los Angeles tomorrow that will probably get me in a lot of trouble, and you can watch it happen via a live stream, right here on Facebook, starting at exactly 7pm PST. See you then… #yeahdude”
More than 80 firefighters were called to the 6000 block of West Selma Avenue about 8 p.m. on Sunday evening reports of a possible suicide attempt after an unidentified person was spotted on the crane, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said.
In occasional, broken updates on his Facebook page and via the Snapchat app, Steve-O updated his audience as he made his way up the crane and crawled along its length. Once at the top, he began to inflate Shammy the whale.
“It’s stunt time,” Steve-O wrote in his first post of the night, which included a nearly five-minute video documenting the initial moments of his daring ascent. After reaching the top, he photographed a view to the ground showing his shoes standing on a narrow steel beam. In the caption, he wrote, “Did I mention that I’m really high in the air? Hearing sirens now.”
He later wrote: “Anyone wanna bail me out of jail?”
Steve-O has been highly critical of SeaWorld for their alleged mistreatment of orcas – documented in the hugely popular 2013 film Blackfish – and was given a $239 (£155) fine last year for changing a motorway sign in San Diego to read ‘SeaWorld Sucks.’
As of 9:45 p.m. he had not been booked, but police said he could face several charges including conspiracy to commit a crime, trespassing, setting off explosives - the fireworks - within city limits without a permit and filming for personal gain without a permit.
He was being held at the LAPD’s Hollywood Division station.