The World Trade Center at New York is the favorite haunt for thrill seekers nowadays it seems. Days after a 16-year-old teenager was arrested for scaling the 104 floors of the building and reaching its top, four people were arrested by the NYPD for BASE jumping from the top of the tallest building in North America, CNN reports. While the police have only arrested them now, the jump that lead to it happened back in September 2013. The video of the men performing the BASE jump from the World Trade Center has only been recently uploaded to YouTube. The video is a must watch for sure!
According to USA Today , the four men who climbed the World Trade Center and have been accused of burglary, reckless endangerment, and “jumping from a structure,” are James Brady, Kyle Hartwell, Marko Markovich, and Andrew Rossig. A statement by issued by NYPD Commissioner William Bratton adds, “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.”
According to Timothy Parlatore, the attorney who is representing Rossig, on September 30, 2013, the four men reached the premises of the One World Trade Center in an attempt to get to the top and eventually jump off. Only three men reached the top as Kyle Hartwell kept lookout at the base of the tower. Like the 16-year-old Justin Alexander Casquejo, the trio managed to sneak in through a hole in the fence that barricades the World Trade Center and eventually reached the roof of the tower, situated at 1368 feet above street level.
What transpired next is clearly seen in the video. As you can see from the video, the entire jump was carried out in a professional, silent manner. The BASE jumpers eventually landed on a secluded highway which was devoid of any traffic. Parlatore described the jump as “very controlled with nothing haphazard or reckless about it.”
Parlatore goes on to say that his client was surprised at the apparent lack of security at the World Trade Center premises which New York Mayor Bill de Blasio recently described as the No.1 terrorist target in the world. There are 200 police officers manning the site and over $40 million would be spent on the overall security apparatus once the site is opened to the public in the summer of 2014.
Meanwhile, the investigators are reviewing the footage posted to YouTube as well as a few others that have been recovered from the homes of the jumpers. They are also reviewing photographic and other evidences.
The One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower began construction in 2006, five years after the iconic twin towers of the old World Trade Center towers were destroyed by terrorists. The current tower stands 1776 feet (541.3m) tall at the top of its spire – signifying the year of the United States Declaration of Independence.
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