BROOKLYN —The French student arrested last month for climbing the Brooklyn Bridge was ordered by a judge to spend the holidays in New York cleaning the Tombs.
Yonathan Souid, 23, who said he climbed the historic span to snap a few photos, will spend 200 hours cleaning the Manhattan Detention Complex located at 125 White St., according to his lawyer James Medows.
“I believe the sentence was excessive and that the city made him a political scapegoat," Medows said.
"However, based on the climate of New York City at this time, where people are scared of terrorists, this is a victory,” Medows said. “It’s better to clean the prison than to be a prisoner.”
Souid pleaded guilty to an unclassified misdemeanor charge. All the other charges were dropped according to his lawyer.
Medows said he would ask to meet with the Brooklyn DA's Office in the next few days to get Souid’s camera back, and once the student completes his community service hours, Medows will ask for the young man’s passport, he said.
“He’s looking forward to doing his community service, he’s excited about going home and seeing his family and going back to school,” Souid's lawyer said.
Souid is the fourth person to scale the iconic bridge this year.
A 24-year-old Russian tourist was sentenced to 92 hours of community service in September after climbing to the top of a bridge tower to take a few iPhone photos. A few months earlier, two German artists climbed to the top of one the bridge’s towers to switch two American flags with white flags.
