‘Crane Girl’ is adventurous, not mentally ill, friend says

The woman who had to be rescued after climbing up a crane was released on bail on Thursday.

Marisa Lazo, dubbed Crane Girl, appeared in court Thursday and was released on $500 bail. She’s not allowed on any rooftops or construction sites as part of her bail conditions.

Police say the rescue cost the construction company around $65,000. There’s no estimate yet on the cost for emergency services.

“Some of our people were able to get back to work yesterday afternoon, but a number of trades really relied on the crane, obviously,” said Scott McLellan, senior vice president of Plaza, the developer for the 37-storey building.

“So … we had to send all of those people back home.”

McLellan said the company also had to perform a safety check on machinery and tools that could have been touched or climbed on.

“I’m glad she’s alive,” he said. “I sincerely am glad she’s alive.”

Sara Burton, Lazo’s best friend, told KiSS 92.5’s Maurie Sherman that her friend “teaches her to not take life so seriously.”

“She’s awesome. I love her. She’s super adventurous. She’s a cool person,” Burton said.

Lazo left court on Thursday afternoon and did not answer any questions from media who followed her out.

Lazo’s perilous climb remained a mystery even to those tasked with retrieving her from the crane near Yonge and Wellesley streets, with firefighters saying there was no indication why she scaled the crane in the middle of the night.

They believe, however, that she climbed up the crane, crawled out on to the end of it, and slid down a cable to the large pulley device where she got stranded.

Burton, too, has no idea why Lazo made the climb.

“I wasn’t with her, so I can’t speak for her,” Burton said. “She’s super thrill-seeking. If she was in B.C. and she had mountains, she’d be climbing those.”

Burton questioned why Lazo was appearing in mental health court, and indeed the court found Lazo had no mental health issues. Burton sounded choked up when considering her friend’s fate. The woman is facing six charges, including mischief and interfering with property.

“She’s not a crazy person, for sure. No, no, no…I’m scared for her. I don’t know how she’s feeling, because this is all so much. I hope she’s OK. I hope she’s OK,” Burton said.

Firefighter Rob Wonfor was the one who rescued her. Mayor John Tory acknowledged the dramatic rescue at City Hall on Thursday morning. Wonfor, for his part, seemed to take it in stride.

“She has to tell me how she did it because she has to be our new training officer for high-angle (rescue) because it’s impressive,” Wonfor said Wednesday.

“It was hard enough for me to go up with ropes and harnesses and she free-climbed that.”

Wonfor said he didn’t ask her for an explanation during the rescue because they needed to stay focused. But he noted Lazp didn’t seem frightened and was “very calm.”

“She was a brave girl. She helped me when I got there,” he said.

Lazo is due back in court on May 17.