TWO BASE JUMPERS who skydived off the World Trade Centre “sullied the memories” of victims of the 9/11 attacks, a New York judge said, slapping them with hefty sentences of community service.
James Brady, 33, who was a steel worker at the site, and “ring leader” Andrew Rossig, 34, avoided jail sentences but were ordered to carry out 250 and 200 hours of community service respectively, and each was fined $2,000.
Their stunt in the early hours of September 30, 2013 has been watched by more than 3.5 million people on YouTube. T-shirts glorifying the jump are still sold on the internet, the court heard.
The new Trade Centre, also known as Freedom Tower, is the tallest building in the United States and is constructed on part of the site destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“After 9/11 the world changed, everything changed,” said New York state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Brady and Rossig made a “very, very poor decision” to execute a base jump off “an iconic building constructed on hallowed ground,” he said.
“In doing so these defendants tarnished the building before it even opened and sullied the memories of those who jumped on 9/11 not for sport but because they had to.”
The defendants expressed regret.
“We didn’t want this whole thing to get blown out of proportion,” said Rossig. “It’s never going to happen again.”
“We’re sorry and it won’t happen again,” said Brady.
The judge said their apologies were “hard to reconcile” with videos posted on YouTube and a follow-up interview in Maxim magazine, which the prosecution brandished in court.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say