Although this video was taken last September, it wasn’t uploaded to youtube until yesterday, coinciding with the arrest of the four men involved in the stunt. The jumpers, who reportedly want to use the footage to raise funds for charity as a sign of respect for 9/11 victims, are being charged with burglary, endangerment and misdemeanors.
Three B.A.S.E. jumpers and one man whose attorney explains is “charged as acting in concert with the top count being burglary” turned themselves in to police yesterday, barely a week after 16 year old Jose Casquejo snuck past a sleeping guard to reach the spire of the tower. Gizmodo reports that the jumpers may have slipped through the same hole in the fence as Casquejo, but although the teen took the elevator, the men walked undetected up all 105 flights of stairs to perform the jump.
It’s definitely not my place to comment on the suitability of One World Trade Center for urban exploring–the video will probably inspire a different extreme reaction in everyone who watches it. But police commissioner William Bratton has strong words for thrill-seekers who could be tempted to replicate Casquejo or the jumpers’ actions:
These men violated the law and placed themselves, as well as others, in danger[…]These arrests should send a message to anyone thinking about misusing a landmark this way. They will be tracked down and they will face serious charges. Being a thrill-seeker does not give immunity from the law.
Yesterday’s arrests were the culmination of a 5 and a half month search for the three jumpers and their accomplice. Joseph Corozzo, attorney for plaintiff Marko Markovich, said his client wants to use the dizzying video to raise money for charity and “show they meant no disrespect.” In a statement to the New York Post this morning, Andrew Rossig reiterated that he never intended to cause anyone harm: “The intent was for nobody to ever find out and for nobody to get hurt and nobody did get hurt. I’m just trying not to go to jail.”
(via Gizmodo, and Newsday, image via NYC B.A.S.E. Jump)
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