Rescue over Genesee River was actually a photo shoot

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The woman who was rescued from the train trestle bridge over the Genesee River Friday was actually a circus performer. She tells News10NBC’s Stephanie Duprey that she was getting photos done when someone thought she needed help.

Julia Baccellieri says, she does these stunts all the time. She’s a trapeze artist who’s in town for a show. She says she appreciates Rochestarian’s looking out for her.

"I was climbing up, about to de-rig and all of the sudden a bunch of police and firefighters and rescue teams came through. I’ve done this many times before, it’s my favorite to shoot pictures of my circus in nature,” Baccellieri said.

Her friend, who is a circus photographer that lives in Rochester was capturing those daring shots at Genesee and Vixette streets. A passerby thought she was in danger when they saw her hanging from the bridge.

"Nothing actually went wrong at all, the photo shoot was actually perfect.”

Baccellieri wasn’t out there alone, she had her whole team with her to ensure her safety.

“My photographer was up on top of the bridge talking me through what angles he wanted and what poses he wanted, and we had a partner in a boat below to make sure things went smooth.”

Baccellieri is a performer with Cirque-Us, a Boston-based circus entertainment and education company. She says she didn’t think the "rescue" was necessary, but crews said it was protocol. Baccellieri narrated that conversation with fire crews.

"They said we can’t actually let you climb back up, we have to come down and rescue you, and I was like, are you sure? It’s a really quick process, I talked them through what my process was, and they were like that sounds great but we have all of our equipment out so we might as well go through the steps, I said, okay!“

The trapeze artist says this is only her second trip to Rochester, but already feels connected to the community.

"Rochester is a busy area and a lot of people passing by and a lot of strong community which is awesome that people are keeping an eye out for each other and keeping an eye out in their community but yeah, I’ve never had this happen before.”

The rescue took about 40 minutes. No one was hurt and no charges have been filed. Baccellieri will be performing tonight at Innovation Square at 7 p.m.