During Super Bowl week, a protester climbed the old Chase tower without ropes or safety equipment; police were waiting for him at the top.
Maison Des Champs, who is 23 years old, calls himself “The Official Pro-Life Spiderman.” To bring attention to his cause against abortion, he climbed the 483-foot Chase Tower in downtown Phoenix in about 90 minutes.
On February 7th, he started his ascent at about 10:00 a.m. MST and completed it before 11:00 a.m.
DesChamps claims he was broadcasting the event live from the summit on his phone to get support and donations for an anti-abortion organization.
According to Emily Berning, Co-Founder of Let Them Live, he receives a lot of attention for being able to offer the pro-life cause a platform. He’s trying to get the word out about Hope, a mother who is 22 weeks pregnant and slated to get an abortion this coming Friday. To that end, he is campaigning for donations to “help her choose life.”
A pair of climbing shoes and some chalk on his fingers show that he came prepared. Moreover, he stopped periodically at various floors to rest before ascending to the roof.
DesChamps was arrested by Phoenix police officers who were atop the structure. The police said he would be arrested for trespassing and criminal nuisance and placed into detention.
Because of the incident, traffic on Central Avenue between Monroe and Adams streets was diverted.
CEO Emily Berning, Let Them Live President, told the media that it was DesChamps’ seventh time climbing a building for charity. In 2022, DesChamps climbed tall buildings; he scaled the Salesforce skyscraper in San Francisco and the New York Times building.
Larger and larger crowds gathered throughout the morning to watch DesChamps’ live stream from the city’s center as he climbed the tower.
Since it’s Super Bowl week, people went over and still can’t believe that a man is now ascending a tall structure. People first saw him in the nineteenth story; he was likely at least ten stories below. He has now reached the pinnacle of success.
Phoenix firefighters said DesChamps’s actions were reckless and potentially life-threatening.
“I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing, but it’s happening right now, man.”
Captain Todd Keller put it a genuine threat. He stated that he might go over and climb in a safe, supervised atmosphere at any of several locations across the Valley; this is not one of them. He thinks there are better approaches than this.