2 Who Climbed Tree in Central Park Are Charged With Misdemeanors

New York Times ^ | 4.25.2004 | Mark Santora

[NYC GOP Chick]

April 25, 2004

2 Who Climbed Tree in Central Park Are Charged With Misdemeanors

By MARC SANTORA

wo nearly naked men who drew crowds and kept rescue workers at bay for hours on Thursday when they climbed a tree in Central Park were charged yesterday with a series of misdemeanors, the police said.

The charges included reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, public lewdness and disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors that the police said were unlikely to result in jail time.

The police identified the men as William Rund, a 32-year-old preoperative transsexual, and Christopher Montero, 17, both of the Bronx. They were spotted in the tree by witnesses in Central Park near 63rd Street about 4 p.m. One man wore only a thong and the other boxer shorts. Some witnesses told the police that the two had oral sex. An officer walking foot patrol nearby was summoned and called for assistance when the men refused to climb down.

The police Emergency Service Unit and a hostage negotiation team were called to the scene, two bucket trucks were brought in and an air cushion was deployed at the base of the tree, the police said.

The police spent the next four hours trying to get the men out of the tree. Whenever the police would try to climb to them, the couple would scamper higher and threaten the officers with broken branches.

Finally, at 8:30 p.m., the men came down and were taken to New York Weill Cornell Center, where they underwent psychiatric evaluation and were released, the police said.

[NYC GOP Chick]

More on the Tree Sex Boys!

[Young Rhino]

Misdemeanor? Looks like the police bent over backwards for these homosexuals.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Very good! LOL! :D

[Rummyfan]

You know, maybe a few well placed rocks would have brought these freaks down.

[hellinahandcart]

Looks like the police bent over backwards for these homosexuals.

Well, you don't want to bend over forward for them, ya know?

[A Jovial Cad]

*Looks like the police bent over backwards for these homosexuals*

Ha, ha, in a manner of speaking, indeed.

(you just about caused me to spew amber-colored liquid all over my monitor, BTW, LOL).

[henbane]

Here's the Daily News take on the Central Park looney-birds.

Gay lovers go out on limb

By DEREK ROSE and BILL HUTCHINSON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

A teen and his transgender partner romp in Central Park tree.

Two lovers, naked as jaybirds and apparently as crazy as looneybirds, climbed a tree in Central Park yesterday - and put on a bizarre four-hour show that drew cops and hundreds of gawkers.

In a shocking new twist on the birds and the bees, a 17-year-old boy and a 32-year-old preoperative transsexual offered an X-rated sex spectacle - refusing cops' pleas to leave their unlikely love nest 50 feet above the Chess and Checkers House.

The standoff ended at 8:30 p.m., when the duo voluntarily came down and embraced as onlookers cheered. They were then taken away for psychiatric observation.

"We don't get this back home," said tourist Elise Gaillard, 21, of Adelaide, Australia. "Crazy Americans."

Earlier, the teen told cops that his parents did not approve of his relationship with his newly bosomy pal. "I want my mother and my psychologist," he yelled.

When police began scaling the leafy larch tree, the couple climbed higher.

"You think I won't jump?" the transgender tree-hugger screamed at cops, who rushed two cherrypickers to the scene and put a huge airbag around the base of the towering larch.

At one point, the older of the couple broke off a branch and threatened to throw it at cops, before demanding a vanilla diet Pepsi.

When police handed up a regular old diet Pepsi, the 32-year-old hurled the can to the ground, screamed, "Vanilla!" and declared, "What I say goes!"

The couple also shouted complaints about the portrayal of transgender people in the media, and called for an apology on national TV.

"I think they were just mentally distraught, fed up with how people were treating them," said Detective Steven Elter, who climbed up the tree to talk to the couple. "We just tried to talk to them and make them feel comfortable."

The incident came just days after two Canadian women took a swim - fully clothed - in the Central Park reservoir.

Yesterday's surreal antics prompted tourists like Louise Sharp, 24, of Scotland to change their sightseeing plans.

"We were going to go to the Empire State Building, but we thought we'd stay here instead," Sharp said.

With Kerry Burke

Originally published on April 23, 2004

[CindyDawg]

How could they tell which one was pre-operative? On second thought, never mind lol

[CindyDawg]

Normally I'm against cutting trees down but there are exceptions :')

[CindyDawg]

Another abused tree :')

[NYC GOP Chick]

The one in the thong kinda looks like that guy who was in Blue Lagoon, with Brooke Shields.

[Texas Eagle]

Awwwwww......young DemocRATS in love.....what? no pics of the proud parents?

[CindyDawg]

So, I see.

[JulieRNR21]

Fruits & nuts are now abundant in 'little olde New York'?

Is this the result of 'spring fever'?

[Semper Paratus]

If they did this in Riyadh SA it would have been a very different outcome.

[CindyDawg]

post instead of pre ,huh?

[mathurine]

A rich democrat from Tappan Zee
Once buggered a dunce in a tree
The outcome was horrid,
All butt and no forehead
Small balls and a purple goatee.

[William Martel]

I swear, it sounds just like a sketch from some comedy show.

Although, I might add, not a very good comedy show.

[CindyDawg]

I went back and looked again. Problems. "she"s too old for him IMO.