Man survives plunge over Niagara Falls
'He walked over to where we were standing and jumped': First to remain alive without any safety devices
 
Jennifer Pellegrini 
The Canadian Press


Tuesday, October 21, 2003

CREDIT: Mike Dibattista, The Canadian Press
 
An unidentified man who survived a feet-first plunge over Niagara Falls without any life-supporting equipment is led to a waiting ambulance in handcuffs.
 

NIAGARA FALLS - A man has survived a plunge over Niagara Falls wearing only the clothes on his back, witnesses say.

Bystanders at the brink of the Horseshoe Falls said a man climbed over a wrought-iron barricade early yesterday afternoon, slid down an embankment to the rocks below, stepped into the water and went over the falls.

Witnesses said the man apparently swam to shore.

The man, whose name was not released, was walked out from the gorge with the help of emergency services personnel and did not appear to have any serious injuries.

If the accounts are true, the man will be the first person known to have survived after plunging over the falls without any safety devices.

That is a miracle, said Lynda Satelmajer, who was sure she was witnessing a suicide when she saw the man prepare to go into the water.

"We thought that he looked odd because he made eye contact with us and he seemed a bit edgy, kind of jumping around," she said.

Ms. Satelmajer said she and her family were standing at the spot where the man went into the water. "He walked over to where we were standing and he jumped and slid down on his backside and went over the brink," she said.

"It was really freaky, actually. He was smiling."

The scene was equally surreal for Lavaughn and Diedre Love, who were in Niagara Falls to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

"The guy just basically jumped in the falls," Ms. Love said.

"I saw him go over. He didn't yell or anything."

Her husband said the couple had just made their way to the falls after watching a movie about the daredevils who had tested the mighty cataract and failed.

"They did it in a barrel, but this guy went over without a barrel or anything," Mr. Love said.

Witnesses said staff on a tour boat attempted to throw the man a life preserver, but the strong current swept it away.

Somehow, the man just swam to the shore, Ms. Satelmajer said.

Members of the Niagara Parks Police High Angle Access Team located the man and brought him out of the gorge, where he was treated by a medical team before being taken to Greater Niagara General Hospital.

Hospital spokeswoman Marilyn Bellows said the man was in stable condition, but declined to provide any additional information about when he would be released.

© Copyright 2003 National Post

It's illegal in both Canada and the US to preform stunts without some kind of a permit. It's illegal for the same reason drugs are illegal, the person may hurt themselves. It's been that way for many years.

The consequences of jumping over Niagra Falls will deter most people

I can't even imagine what this world be if like you had to show your I.D to buy your cookie rashons

After becoming a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation in 1985, Cessna stopped producing piston-engine airplanes with the 1986 model year due to concerns over product liability. In 1992, Textron, Inc. acquired Cessna Aircraft and soon resumed producing light aircraft; however, rising production costs and concerns over product liability did not justify the reintroduction of the popular and affordable two-seat models.

Pummeled by skyrocketing litigation and insurance costs--the industry paid $210 million in claims in 1986--production of general aviation (GA) aircraft plummeted 95% in the past two decades, from 17,811 in 1978 to just 928 last year. More than 100,000 people lost their jobs.

Cessna Aircraft ceased making piston-powered airplanes in 1986; Piper Aircraft slipped into Chapter 11 in 1991; Beech Aircraft spent an average of $530,000 defending itself in 203 accident cases in which the NTSB concluded that the aircraft's design and manufacture were not a factor.

"The average age of the GA fleet is 27 years," says Ed Stimpson, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). "We were getting sued on 30-, 40-, and 50-year-old airplanes." He jests that, prior to the legislation, had a pilot crashed the original Wright Flyer he could have sued the Wright Brothers for design defects--92 years after the aircraft was built.

http://www.manufacturing.net/dn/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA151518