That French Dude Who Climbed Brooklyn Bridge? He’s Jewish.
Image by Wikimedia Commons
By Anne Cohen November 18, 2014
“The dog ate my homework.” “I didn’t know he/she was married.” “I called, but you didn’t pick up.”
All these are better excuses than: “Sorry officer, there was no sign in French saying I couldn’t climb the Brooklyn Bridge.”
And yet, that’s what French tourist Yonathan Souid is trying to claim. The 23-year-old was caught trying to scale the iconic New York bridge on Sunday — the third such attempt this year. The NYPD quickly spotted Souid, and ordered him down.
Now, he’s facing up to a year of jail time on charges of trespassing and second-degree reckless endangerment, the New York Post reports.
His American friends are claiming that it’s really not Souid’s fault. After all, he only wanted to get an epic photo. “There were no signs in French saying you can’t climb the bridge,” said defense lawyer James Medows. “He acted like a foolish tourist.”
“Souid comes from a small Jewish community near La Rochelle. It was such a misunderstanding. He has a strong passion for photography, so he thought, ‘I want to get a better view.’ He’s not a daredevil,” his friend Jeff Sternfeld, 24, told the New York Post. “There’s a cultural barrier. To him and people in France, they said, ‘They put him in jail for this?’”
Souid arrived in New York on Thursday and was supposed to return home on Sunday. An acquaintance told the Post that he was traveling as part of a Chabad trip. Now, it seems he’ll have to stick around and wait for his court date. As they say in France, c’est la vie.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
