Chrome Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 Love that Reuters ... Half-Naked Couple Cause Stir Up a Tree Fri Apr 23, 2004 11:27 AM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two gay lovers took off most of their clothes, climbed up a tree in New York's Central Park and spent four hours engaging in sex acts and yelling abuse at police and firefighters. Police said officers talked the men out of the three story high tree on Thursday night after the parks department had sent two cherry-pickers and firefighters had deployed an inflatable rescue mattress. The couple, described by officials as a 32-year-old transsexual with female breasts wearing a purple thong and a 17-year-old boy in white boxer shorts, were admitted to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation. At one point during the standoff in the larch tree -- an evergreen with pine-like needles -- the 32-year-old rejected a police officer's offer of a can of soda. "This is a Coke. I wanted vanilla Diet Pepsi," he was quoted as saying in newspaper reports. On Friday, police charged William Rund, 32, and Christopher Montero, 17, both of New York, with reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, public lewdness and disorderly conduct. Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 NY Times Couple Takes Protest Up Tree in Central Park By COLIN MOYNIHAN and SABRINA TAVERNISE Published: April 23, 2004 Two people took off most of their clothes and climbed to the top of a tree in Central Park yesterday, drawing hundreds of onlookers and keeping dozens of police officers and rescue workers busy for four hours. The couple, one clad in a thong and the other in boxer shorts, climbed up 35 feet into a pine tree, just north of the Wollman Rink, at about 4:20 p.m. The two people, identified by the police as a 32-year-old man with feminine breasts and a 17-year-old boy, shouted threats at rescue workers and drank soft drinks. They also had oral sex, witnesses told the police. The authorities did not know why they decided to climb the tree. A firefighter at the park said that the two, whose names the police did not release, had told rescue workers they were in a relationship that was not acceptable to the family of one of them. Several other rescue workers said the men told them that they were upset over how they had been depicted in a newspaper article. "I want to talk to my mother," the 32-year-old man shouted at one point. When a police officer made a motion toward him, he quickly scampered higher up the tree. "Don't come any closer," he yelled, and then threatened to jump. At one point a police officer handed him a dark shirt, which he put on. He then dropped his underwear, which the officer caught, and tore several branches from the tree and brandished them before dropping them. Three hours into the standoff, an officer handed the 32-year-old man a can of soda. He flung it to the ground and shouted: "This is a Coke. I wanted vanilla Diet Pepsi." Throughout the standoff, the teenager remained silent. It was dark by the time rescue workers finally persuaded the two to descend a ladder. Inspector William Callahan said the two people were taken to New York Weill Cornell Center for psychiatric evaluation, and charges were pending. Onlookers in the park were transfixed. A woman visiting from Geneva said she watched for two hours. "I live in Switzerland, which is uneventful," said Katerina Usvitsky, 23, a graphic designer. "Things like this don't happen there." Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 Hell, it isn't like this happens everyday around here! Quote
AfricaBrass Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 What a way to celebrate Earth Day! It would have been more appropriate on Moon day! Quote
PHILLYQ Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 Here's a link to the story in today's NY Daily News. I put the link and not the story so that you could see the picture: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/186668p-161666c.html Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 (edited) 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 Edited April 23, 2004 by 7/4 Quote
AfricaBrass Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 What I want to know is: Who is going to use that picture for their avatar first? Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 I'll quote: The NY Post: "It's a treesome," one cop said of the loony lovebirds, who were whisked off to the psychiatric ward at Cornell Medical Center. The arboreal aberration attracted hundreds of gawkers and left dozens of emergency personnel stumped. and... "We thought it was an ecological statement for Earth Day, but it's just transvestites," said Brian Mallard, 26, of Long Island City. and sadly.... Both were heard shouting that they have AIDS and that their parents disapproved of them. Quote
maren Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 "A treesome..." The man who coined that phrase is an officer and a poet! Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 "A treesome..." The man who coined that phrase is an officer and a poet! That's why I had to quote it! Quote
PHILLYQ Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 I loved the quotes from the tourists. Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 WNBC.com: No one was injured in the bizarre Earth Day stunt, (police Inspector William)Callahan said. "When I heard they were in a tree," he said, "I figured it was very fitting." Quote
7/4 Posted April 23, 2004 Report Posted April 23, 2004 What I want to know is: Who is going to use that picture for their avatar first? It needs the Cat Shatner treatment. Quote
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