Quebec police investigating TikTok of young men 'rooftopping' on the Champlain Bridge tower

Quebec provincial police are investigating after a video of people climbing the Champlain Bridge tower circulated on TikTok.

The attention-grabbing exploit did exactly that when the video was published on Jan. 21. It has since been taken down.

The TikTok, taken from the climbers' perspectives, follows a group of young men as they make their way up the 170-metre tower (equivalent to a 40-storey building).

The bridge authority, the SSLG, is also investigating.

"This intrusion constitutes a security breach, and we are carrying out an internal investigation to determine the causes and ultimately recommend the corrective measures to be put in place," the SSLG told CTV News in a statement Sunday.

Criminal defence lawyer Walid Hijazi says the individuals could face serious charges.

"A lot of the behaviour we see on the internet coming from essentially young men in their early 20s looking for adrenaline and posting on social media, they need to understand that it's very dangerous and potentially criminal," he explained. "There can be an accident, and they can hurt themselves. And possibly die."

That was tragically the case for 22-year-old Conrad Rybicki.

"Rooftopping," as it's called, was one of his biggest passions; he gained a large following for his dangerous exploits above Toronto.

But in May 2023, he fell 20 stories to his death.

It's a loss his parents, who live in Poland, are still reeling from. They're speaking out in the hopes of preventing further harm.

"To people, I would say, use your brain and your good sense. Ask yourself if you want to continue living," Rybicki's mother, Dorota Rybicki, said in an interview Sunday.

Dorota Rybicki says she only discovered how popular roof topping was after her son's death. She's calling on social media platforms to do more to prevent these videos from spreading by cutting off the clicks that make them so irresistible.

"Why aren't there controls or surveillance on this content that young people put on social media?" Rybicki continued.

The SQ investigation into the break-in at the Champlain Bridge is ongoing.