Man jumps from Empire State Building

[celeb_2006]

Man jumps from Empire State Building - Yahoo! News

A man jumped to his death Friday out the window of a 69th-floor law office in the Empire State Building.
Police responded to the New York City landmark shortly before 3 p.m. after a 911 caller reported seeing a severed leg — covered in a gray sock — on the street below. The rest of the body was recovered from a setback on the 30th floor.
The tragedy in the 102-story building closed portions of the busy Midtown Manhattan street while the investigation continued.
The name of victim, a lawyer in his 30s, was not immediately released.
More than 30 people have committed suicide at the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931, including a 21-year-old man in February 2006. The skyscraper reaches 1,454 feet to the top of its lightning rod.

[Aella]

I wonder if any of the jumpers also took a few unlucky pedestrians with them.

[A*O]

As a way of killing yourself this has always seemed especially horrifying to me. I hate heights at the best of times so to deliberately jump from the 69th floor and give yourself PLENTY of time to think about that decision all the way down (and risk injuring someone and/or traumatising witnesses) seems especially bizarre.

Not dragging up 9/11 (much) but the images of the people jumping from the towers were the most haunting of the day for me. And that of the fire dept priest who was killed by a falling person as he administered the Last Rites to people already dead and injured on the ground.

[McJag]

But A*O-I thougt he died of a heart attack? Still-all of those poor people. That couple holding hands as they jumped, just heartbreaking. I know they felt they had no choice-but this guy!

[A*O]

Maybe he did - I thought he was killed/injured by someone who jumped but either way it was traumatic. My top 2 ways to die would be burning to death, or falling to my death so the choice those people faced on that terrible day still brings me out in a cold sweat. RIP.

[UndercoverGator]

That was the horrific image of 9/11 and some of them jumping broke my heart. Ladies firmly clutching their purses like magic talismen on the way down. People holding hands.

I think you're have to be mighty desperate to jump because it's a sure death and how many people want to have their heads cracked open like ripe watermelons on the pavement?

One of my great uncles jumped out of a building on Wall Street the day the stockmarket crashed in the 20s. The family still talks about it.

[Sojiita]

I agree that burning to death or jumping from a highrise is about the worst way to go. I stumbled across on the net some pics(close up! ) of some people who had jumped from the WTC -in the early stages..before the collapses). The firemen covered(what they could) with sheets and had pulled them back to let a photographer take some shots(I guess they were considering it a crime scene then at that time). Totally horrific..especially realizing that those grim faced firemen in that pic probably died shortly after that pic was taken.

When my friend jumped off the top of an 8 floor parking garage June 2005..I was so angry and it was very traumatic to me how he killed himself. Knowing that people heard him scream as he fell..that he hit an awning..that he died of massive trauma to the head..it was just very hurtful to the people who knew him and cared about him. It is a very selfish way to take your own life. I guess they are in so much pain that they just do not consider that part of it...how it can affect(or in the case of jumping off the ESB) possible jeopardize someone else's life.


*here is a weird (and terrible) short documentary of the worst highrise fire ever(besides 911) that happened in Brazil in 1974. Chilling and scares the shit out of me when I think about being in highrises..it is the second one down called "Incendio"*
Weirdo Video: Incendio 1974 -- Complete

better working link(should be sixth one down): search"bbc,documentary,sarcasm,strange,aliens" VideoSift

[McJag]

Sorry that happened to you,Soj. I don't think people in the midst of a trauma can think past their own pain & realize they are stabbing everyone they know straight thru the heart.

That video is chilling!!!

[A*O]

There's a recent movie/docco called The Bridge (?) and shows people jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The director set up fixed cameras at various locations and just let the cameras roll for a year. Way too voyeuristic for me but it's more shocking to see someone, obviously desperate, standing on the railing ready to jump while people walk/jog by without taking any notice at all.

[AliceInWonderland]

gross! Is your body even intact after slamming that hard into the concrete below from that far up?!!

[Just Kill Me]

I actually want to watch that... The Bridge movie...

[Aella]

Originally Posted by A*O

There's a recent movie/docco called The Bridge (?) and shows people jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The director set up fixed cameras at various locations and just let the cameras roll for a year. Way too voyeuristic for me but it's more shocking to see someone, obviously desperate, standing on the railing ready to jump while people walk/jog by without taking any notice at all.

Oh wow, I think the people just purposefully ignoring what's going on is the most shocking part.

And I'd be curious to see that film.

[missbazilb]

I biked over the Golden Gate Bridge a few years ago with a friend of mine, and we stopped and talked to two workers who were working on one of the towers. One thing I noticed is that while biking across the bridge, there are emergency phones every couple hundred feet to discourage jumpers. The workers said that there are a lot more jumpers than presented by the media. I imagine it's not something people want to encourage.

A few years ago I saw a horrific accident on the roof of a building that was kitty-corner to and a block away from my office building. My office was several stories higher than the roof of this building, and it faced the building. There was a window washer hanging over the edge, in his little seat thing, just getting ready to go down. Somehow, the rope that was secured to the building hit some electrical transformer (I found this out later). Basically, I just saw a flash, heard a bang, and this guy went down, ten stories. It was extremely shocking. Here I am in my office, screaming, and no one else was at the angle to see it, or looking out at the time. Terrible accident.

[A*O]

There are a lot of suicides off Melbourne's West Gate Bridge but they are rarely reported to avoid copycats or mawkish spectators. I once drove past an abandoned car in the emergency lane next to the railing and a couple of cops were leaning over looking down so I guess someone had just jumped..... [shudder]

Check out the sparkling blue, crystal clear water of the Yarra river LOL. I reckon a mouthfull of that would kill you even if you managed to survive the fall.

[Mira]

Originally Posted by missbazilb

I biked over the Golden Gate Bridge a few years ago with a friend of mine, and we stopped and talked to two workers who were working on one of the towers. One thing I noticed is that while biking across the bridge, there are emergency phones every couple hundred feet to discourage jumpers. The workers said that there are a lot more jumpers than presented by the media. I imagine it's not something people want to encourage.

I remember something in the paper when I lived in that area for several years, something about how there is at least one a day off the GG Bridge. They really do try to stop it but the people case it out and know how to get around the various deterrents.