New York—Professional parachute jumper Jeb Corliss, who was arrested while attempting to base jump off the Empire State Building, had his pre-court appearance at the criminal courthouse on June 18.
According to Corliss, a videotape, which was in a camera attached to his helmet on the day of the attempted jump, recorded all audio and video of the incident, and proved his innocence. Yet, in a strange twist of events, the videotape was lost from the evidence room. Corliss's attorney, Mark Jay Heller, mentioned that the contents of the video might have very well exonerated Corliss from any potential conviction.
On April 27, 2006 Corliss had tried to parachute or "base jump" from the top of the Empire State Building. After climbing over the "suicide fence," guards and police grabbed him, cuffing both his arms and one of his legs to the fence. Corliss said that by cuffing and holding him, the guards endangered his life.
"They handcuffed him and shackled him to the fence with a circumstance where, if his parachute opened, which could very well have happened with a gust of wind, his limbs would have been severed by his body and he would have been killed," said Heller.
The original charges that Corliss faced were second-degree reckless endangerment, but both reckless endangerment charges were later dismissed by the judge before trial. The second-degree reckless endangerment was, however, reinstated on appeal. Then, on April 2007 the owners of Empire State Building sued Corliss for $12 million in damages, claiming that he damaged the landmark's reputation, injured a security guard, and cost it business.
On January 15, 2008 Corliss filed a counterclaim of $30 million against the owner of Empire State Building, alleging them of unlawful imprisonment, defamation of character, emotional distress, and loss of income.
According to Corliss and his attorney, the video proved false the allegations made against him that he had injured a security guard. "What it showed was that I did not have a physical struggle where I was punching or kicking or hitting or trying to hurt anybody. I was holding onto bars for my dear life and explaining that what they were doing was putting my life in danger and no-one was listening to me," said Corliss.
Heller further explained the value that the missing video would have brought to the case.
"Frankly, it would seem to me that it would have also shown that anyone who would have testified in the grand jury from the NYPD or the security detail that he had made contact with him prior to the time that he got to the other side of the fence, would clearly be shown to have committed perjury," said Heller.
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