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khris

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So it looks like ryaboi (tomms) finally got caught? Or at least the first time I'm seeing his name in the news in this way.
Breaking and entering to get photos is obviously illegal. I've always wondered why UrbanToronto promotes these photos. It's really amazing that nobody has been killed by falling to their deaths yet. I feel it's a matter of time.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-toronto-men-charged-in-roof-topping-incident-1.2219327
 
IANAL but willing to bet that they'll end up with a plea deal down to trespassing and mischief with probation tied to further trespassing.
 
IANAL but willing to bet that they'll end up with a plea deal down to trespassing and mischief with probation tied to further trespassing.

Depends. Even being merely charged can seriously effect ones future prospects. Also the police seem to be well aware of his activities and are looking for more witnesses/victims(of property damage) to come forward. If there are additional charges its going to get harder for him/them to plea lightly. Otherwise most likely your right, in that it'll be a prohibition order/suspended sentence tied into future trespassing. Which will no doubt be the hardest part for Tomms lol.

Only knew him casually but I told him years ago when I stopped doing it on the regular myself(https://www.flickr.com/photos/28523469@N02/page1/, https://www.flickr.com/photos/69004511@N03/) that he should quit too while he was ahead. But from what I heard, it didn't just take over his life, it was his life. This was the he path choose for himself and so it really was only a matter of time. Quite frankly I'm a little surprised it actually took as long as it did.

The trespassing is one thing, but he & his crew were not only using tools of the B&E trade but also forced their way in, i.e. the mischief charge would of resulting from property damage. That imo, crosses the line. As a former rooftopper and one who started years before Tomm's I might note, I just can't respect that. It's sort of like a code, if you couldn't get into a building, you'd give up on it and move on to the next one. But that man was relentless... he'd get into places that I thoroughly checked out and dropped the very same week; like Trump after the spire installation. He and his crew just wouldn't let a locked door or two stop them from getting to that otherwise unreachable spot just to say he was there.
 
Most people who rooftop find ways to do it without breaking locks. No lawyer would advise you to trespass, but no one gets harmed when someone walks onto a roof and takes some photos. When you cut locks, however, you're damaging someone's property. That's more serious and unacceptable.
 
So it looks like ryaboi (tomms) finally got caught? Or at least the first time I'm seeing his name in the news in this way.
Breaking and entering to get photos is obviously illegal. I've always wondered why UrbanToronto promotes these photos. It's really amazing that nobody has been killed by falling to their deaths yet. I feel it's a matter of time.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-toronto-men-charged-in-roof-topping-incident-1.2219327

I don't know about rooftopping, but someone was killed at the Hearn in 2008 by falling into a coal chute.

Honestly, I love the photos, but there is a reason that we take safety precautions when constructing these buildings. The double standard also kind of kills me. Sure, you can be competent and be safe and nothing will happen. So can I. But that's not an excuse. I've seen tons of photos of rooftoppers doing things that would get me charged big dollars for type A safety infractions at work.
 
I believe that incident happened to an urban explorer, not a rooftopper.

For the record, rooftopping is a sub-faction of urban explorers. Every rooftopper is an urban explorer, but not every urban explorer is a rooftopper. The general mantra is "take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints", but some often break the code after going all that way to encounter a locked door.
 
That's why it's always a happy day when you get to a door that is supposed to be locked but it has been left unlocked/open/the lock is broken/has previously been broken into. It's a bit like Christmas.
I personally always drew the line at any sort of damage being done. I don't need the added trouble of having to explain why I'm damaging property on top of explaining why I am where I'm not supposed to be and damaging others' property is bad joo joo besides.
 
Hypothetical situation: if a rooftopper fell to their death, would the property owner be considered liable in any way for not having locked or insufficiently secured the premises?
 
So it looks like ryaboi (tomms) finally got caught? Or at least the first time I'm seeing his name in the news in this way.
Breaking and entering to get photos is obviously illegal. I've always wondered why UrbanToronto promotes these photos. It's really amazing that nobody has been killed by falling to their deaths yet. I feel it's a matter of time.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/3-toronto-men-charged-in-roof-topping-incident-1.2219327

IIRC someone did die at the Hearn plant within the past two years. I doubt his, likely very generic, abandoned building photos were worth it.
 
IIRC someone did die at the Hearn plant within the past two years. I doubt his, likely very generic, abandoned building photos were worth it.

People enjoy the hobbies of urban exploration and photography. Urban explorers sometimes die in accidents, but that's no different than skiing, mountain climbing or even hiking.
 

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