French Tourist Sentenced to Cleaning Jail for Scaling Brooklyn Bridge

A French tourist will have to spend 240 hours cleaning a Manhattan jail for scaling the Brooklyn Bridge to take photos.

Yonathan Souid of Esnandes, France, got the community service sentence on Tuesday.

The French university student will be assigned to the Manhattan Detention Center.

His lawyer said Souid "prefers cleaning a jail than to actually live in one."

Souid, 23, had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.

He said it wasn't his intention to hurt anyone. He said he climbed the bridge last month because he has a passion for photography. He allegedly told police he was climbing the bridge to take photos for a news website in France, but he had not press credentials.

The daredevil feat comes seven months after two German artists claimed to have scaled both towers of the Brooklyn Bridge and switched American flags for white flags.

In August, a Russian tourist was arrested after ascending a cable to the top of one of the towers.

The breaches at the bridge, along with ones at One World Trade Center and 432 Park Avenue, have brought scrutiny to safety at the city's landmarks.

-- Marc Santia contributed to this report.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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