Basejumper.com - archive

Drop charge, sez Empire fall guy

Guards grabbed jump suspect in April

BY LEO STANDORA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER


Jeb Corliss wasn't smiling yesterday in court.

The dopey daredevil who allegedly tried to parachute from the Empire State Building in April morphed into a silent Sam yesterday, refusing to enter a plea to an indictment charging him with reckless endangerment.
Jeb Corliss abandoned the foolish grin he had when he was arrested and kept his mouth shut as his lawyer told a Manhattan judge the state's accusations were flawed and the case should be tossed out.

Mark Jay Heller contended that although the indictment contained a criminal charge, it didn't say what Corliss was accused of doing to break the law.

The indictment charges the 30-year-old Californian with reckless endangerment but doesn't specify the count stems from his bid to parachute from the 86th floor of the 102-story midtown landmark.

Heller allowed that Corliss wanted to videotape the stunt but argued his client was innocent of the charge since "he didn't even jump."

Building security staff stopped him and city cops busted him.

At the time of his arrest, security guards and witnesses said Corliss appeared hellbent on going off a narrow ledge more than 1,050 feet above 33rd St. - a death-defying feat apparently designed to be shown on "Stunt Junkies," a Discovery Channel show he then hosted.

He perched precariously on the ledge and was ready to leap when guards reached through a fence and handcuffed him to the bars as witnesses gasped, cameras clicked and videotape rolled.

Witnesses said as Corliss struggled to wriggle free, he screamed, "You guys are going to kill me right now. Let me go!"

In his argument, Heller cited a state appeals court's reversal of a reckless endangerment conviction in a case where the defendant deliberately blew up his own apartment in a suicide bid but apparently didn't mean to hurt anyone else.

Prosecutors had contended that causing the explosion showed a disregard for danger to other lives.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Michael Ambrecht said he found Heller's argument and the case he cited "very persuasive."

He then ordered both sides to submit written arguments and said he would render a decision in December. He let Corliss remain free on $3,000 bail.

Corliss, who also likes to swim with sharks, said yesterday that he has jumped from buildings, bridges and cliffs all over the world.

But the Discovery Channel apparently thought the Empire State Building thing was too much.

It dropped him after the arrest, saying it was disappointed "at his serious lack of judgment and his reckless behavior."

Corliss entered the Empire State Building wearing a $15,000 fat suit, a gray wig and a latex mask with a gray beard.

Once on the observation deck level, he went into a lavatory, tore off the suit to reveal a parachute underneath, put on a helmet, then dashed to the ledge.

Originally published on October 28, 2006