New Yorkers Are Spoilsports

By Spencer Hall

Lawsuits and extreme sports are so obviously made for each other: people jumping off buildings they're not supposed to be jumping from, grievous injuries and deaths from equipment failure, and innumerable violations of city codes.

So we begin with this clip of BASE jumper Jeb Corliss making a failed attempt to jump off the Empire State Building. He's foiled by New Yorkers, who as you can see are massive spoilsports in the extreme sports department.



You're wondering what happens when you're handcuffed on the outside of the cage surrounding the observation deck. Well, you risk getting your arms ripped off by your drag chute (the lead chute that springs the rest of the pack open) when it catches in the wind.

[quote="Newsday"]He said that after security guards handcuffed him to the fence, a police officer saved his life by cutting the parachute rig off his body. He said he explained that he would be killed if the parachute opened because it would jerk his body away from the building and tear his arms out of his shoulders. [/quote]
The incident spawned two lawsuits: one from Empire State against Corliss, and one from Corliss against Empire State. Both claim variations of defamation and income loss, blah blah blah. (Read about the full details of Corliss' legal problems here.)

The thing you should take from this is that if you're thinking of somewhere to make your next death-defying BASE jump, don't do it in New York. They get rather nervous when it comes to tall buildings and security policies these days.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.