March 5, 2008
Courts Bring Corliss Back Down to Earth
Would-be Empire State Building jumper, Jeb Corliss (pictured), isn't in the clear yet. Last year's decision from Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht to dismiss the charges against him was overturned yesterday when The Supreme Court Appellate Division decided to bring the case back to life.
A four-judge panel unanimously voted, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office can now pursue its charge of reckless endangerment against Corliss for his 2006 attempted jump. The judges did reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor, however Corliss could still end up in the slammer for a year, most likely the worst nightmare for a daredevil (though Evel Knievel was known to be familiar with a jail cell or two). On the upside, Daedalus made some wings while imprisoned; maybe time served could serve as inspiration.
His lawyer, Mark Heller, has stood by his argument that there is no law in New York against jumping off buildings. This is something that council member Peter Vallone, Jr. is trying to change with the new bill he has introduced which would essentially protect innocent bystanders from getting fallen on. Yesterday Vallone's office told us that they don't actually know of any fatalities that have been caused by base jumping in New York, however "a basic search reveals there have been over 100 fatalities in the past 25 years" worldwide.
Heller is considering an appeal to the state's highest court.
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Uh, "supereme?"
*cough*
Can't wait for Mr. Corliss to make a comment.
Actually if anyone speaks, his lawyer should...
Dudes, Daedalus fell back to Earth.
He should start to call himself a conceptual artist. Hell we had the gates and then that chinese dude set off all those fireworks in central park.
Sell some pics and other crap so the city can tax people for your "event" and the permits will flow forth.
Enough of this sneaking around stuff, go big (ie go corporate) or go home. That is our city's new motto.
that's some bad logic, Frank. how did the Gates endanger anybody? a 170 pound man plummeting towards 34th street with a malfunctioning parachute is a scarier prospect than orange gates.
"go corporate or go home".. what does that even mean? christo's work is completely self-funded, he received no grants or tax breaks from the city.
do some fucking research.
Nick has no sense of humor.
And I'd like to encourage more people to jump off of buildings.
OMG, 100 deaths worldwide in 25 years! I hope none of them were children. Please, won't anyone think of the chidren?
NICK, if it were an "event" it could be made safe. Closed streets, places to watch. Think fire works displays or David Blaine, he could die or fall from his pole and hurt someone. They let that guy tight rope btwn the twin towers. Hell those T-giving day ballons have hurt more people in NY than BASE jumpers. So I say make it a public spectacle. A lot of other cities have sanctioned BASE jumping events.
As for "go corp or go home". My point is events need to be organized, sanctioned and incorporate the city's powers that be. A simple way to do that is promise money. If you can promise a bump in tax revenue it helps. Take the gates, safe as you put it, and they actually made the city money. So make it one of those NYC moments. Half the city will love it and the other half will bitch about it.
Corliss should get some heavy misdemeanor charges analogous to, say, trespassing, but Vallone spending time on a new law to criminalize this for a non-problem annoys me.
The organized event idea is cool too.
Is this the best thing Vallone can think of to do while in office? Make a big stink about protecting people from people who jump off of buildings is more important than the thousands of other issues affecting the City?
Apparently the answer is "yes."
It was Daedelus' son Icarus who fell to earth, Not James Frey. He had flown too close to the sun and the wax holding his feathers in place melted. Daedelus survived.