A High-Rise Jump, a Bid for Daredevil Fame

Yuri · April 16th, 2001, 07:33 AM

From New York Times, April 14, 2001

A High-Rise Jump, a Bid for Daredevil Fame

By THOMAS J. LUECK

33-year-old United Parcel Service worker from Louisville, Ky., made a bid for daredevil celebrity in Manhattan yesterday, slipping past security in a 39-story Tribeca apartment building and parachuting from its roof to the top of a neighboring town house. He landed in police custody.

The parachutist, Donald Mathis, was being held last night on charges of criminal trespass and reckless endangerment, the police said.

No one was injured in the jump, which occurred at 5:30 p.m. Mr. Mathis took flight from atop Independence Plaza North, an apartment building operated under the Mitchell- Lama affordable housing program at 310 Greenwich Street that is normally known for being one of the best housing deals in a chic corner of Lower Manhattan.

Compared to several death-defying jumps from Manhattan skyscrapers over the years, Mr. Mathis's stunt was modest, both in scope and crowd response. Although he descended more than 30 stories, his leap came at a time of day when many residents were still at work or away for the holiday weekend. Several people who returned to 310 Greenwich last night missed the airborne spectacle.

"I'm surprised," said Dorothea Nicholas, a social worker who has lived at Independence Plaza North for 26 years, and who seemed genuinely unimpressed by Mr. Mathis's feat. "They usually jump off the World Trade Center."

Mr. Mathis's mother, Elizabeth Mathis, said in a telephone interview from Louisville that he traveled to New York a week ago with his parachute in tow, intent upon jumping, but uncertain which building would suit his needs. Mrs. Mathis said her son examined the World Trade Center and Empire State Building, but found security too difficult to penetrate.

"It's hard for him to resist when he sees something tall," Mrs. Mathis said. She said he had made several other parachute jumps from buildings and natural landmarks over the past five years, including one from the 20-story National City Bank building in downtown Louisville, and another from a bridge over the New River Gorge in West Virginia.

Mrs. Mathis said her son had told her over the phone yesterday afternoon that had already jumped once earlier in the day from the roof of Independence Plaza North, and that "nobody acted like they even noticed." So, she said, he returned and jumped again, but her account could not be confirmed by the police or building security guards.

One security guard, who requested that his name not be used, said that Mr. Mathis had made his way to the building's roof, apparently riding an elevator, without being detected. But once on the roof, the guard said, he tripped a security alarm.

The guard said security personnel were immediately dispatched to the roof, but caught their first glimpse of Mr. Mathis as he drifted down the north face of the building with his parachute open.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/14/ny...earchpv=site02