Absolute discharge for climbing crane
TORONTO — A woman who had to be rescued after scaling a construction crane in Toronto last year has been granted an absolute discharge after pleading guilty to mischief.
Marisa Lazo, 23, was stranded for hours after climbing a crane at a downtown construction site in the middle of an April night.
It’s believed she went up the crane, crawled out on to the end of it, and slid down a cable to a large pulley device where she became stranded.
She was rescued by a firefighter who climbed up to Lazo and rappelled down the towering machinery with her — an operation that made headlines across the country.
Lazo was charged with six counts of mischief by interfering with property and was released on bail with several conditions, including staying away from construction sites and rooftops.
Lazo, a dual Canadian-American citizen, pleaded guilty to two mischief counts in the case and has been given six months to pay a victim surcharge. A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General said the remaining charges in the case were withdrawn.
A friend of Lazo has described her as an adventure-seeking person. “Honestly, when I saw it, I knew that it was maybe not the best decision, obviously maybe some logic was not playing into place, but the fact that she did it was not a shock to me, or that she had the ability to do it,” Sara Burton told reporters outside court a day after Lazo’s dramatic rescue.
Toronto Fire Capt. Rob Wonfor, who rescued Lazo, had said he was impressed she had been able to scale the crane unharmed.