New helmet cam video from one of the extreme-skydiving enthusiasts accused of parachuting off the World Trade Center was posted online Monday, just before their arraignment. Brynn Gingras was in court and has the story.
New helmet cam video from one of the extreme-skydiving enthusiasts accused of parachuting off the World Trade Center was posted online Monday, just before their arraignment.
Video from the leap off the 1,776-foot tower was posted to YouTube Monday and is the second such clip released since the three daredevils were arrested in the Sept. 30 jump.
The video shows one parachutist, Marko Markovich, coasting over the Hudson River before he lands in a lower Manhattan park near the West Side Highway.
Markovich and co-jumpers James Brady and Andrew Rossig pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charges, including trespassing and felony burglary.
The jumpers don't deny the stunt, but their lawyers argued in court that they should not be facing felony charges, particularly burglary. The attorneys contend that the prosecutors are claiming the men unlawfully entered the World Trade Center with the intent of committing a crime inside.
"Just from a legal standpoint," said lawyer Timothy Parlatore, "base jumping is, by its very nature, is committed outside of a building."
The jump, along with the arrest of a teenage boy who climbed to the top of the tower in March, has raised questions about the security of the Financial District site, which is supposed to be one of the most tightly protected areas in the country.
