I guess this should really be classified under the heading of "Hold my beer and watch this!" From Florida we learn of a demonstration of safety . . . that demonstrated precisely the opposite.
He wanted to show a woman afraid of heights that it was safe to lean over a sixth-floor hotel balcony.
Instead, David Senior, 26, of Joliet, Ill., fell four stories onto a second-floor concrete ledge Tuesday night.
Senior survived and was flown to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was in fair condition Wednesday.
The incident happened about 11:15 p.m. at the Grand Plaza Beach Hotel.
St. Pete Beach Fire Department operations commander Tom Malone said Senior is a fortunate man.
"Fall four floors and land on concrete, and live?" he pondered. "Yeah."
Senior was not a registered guest and "not a spring breaker," said James Kotsopoulos, president of Grand Plaza Resorts Inc., but had met the occupants of the room earlier Tuesday and was visiting with a group of women.
"From the conversation we had with people in the room, (Senior) wanted to impress the young ladies," Kotsopoulos said. "One was concerned about the height, so to sort of tease her he leaned back onto the rail and went over."
St. Pete Beach police Deputy Chief Dean Horianopoulos said that scenario was "certainly possible." He collected two differing accounts of what happened from people in Room 612. One had Senior sitting on the rail, facing toward the room and falling backward. The other had him holding onto the rail from the opposite side, falling back and landing outside Room 214.
"This guy is the luckiest guy in the world. There is no doubt about it," Horianopoulos said. "He's very fortunate he was not killed in this."
Horianopoulos said it appeared alcohol was a factor in the fall. Police also confirmed the integrity of the balcony rail.
There's more at the link.
What can I say? Clearly he fell for them! And as for alcohol being a factor . . . no s**t, Sherlock!
Peter
When we were kids, back when kids were allowed to grow, we climbed tall trees, walked on fences, and watched fireworks from the roof. Sometimes as result we fell and hurt ourselves. We learned that gravity hurts in a way that the most ancient, basic part of your brain remembers. That part of your brain remembers gravity's lesson so well that, even drunk, we don't do such stupid things. It remembers not even being able to suck in your breath, such is the shock of the fall, as you lay there looking up at the cherry tree you just fell out of.
ReplyDeleteWas this poor fellow deprived of the basic education of 32 feet per second squared by well meaning, protective parents, or by growing up in a place where there were no unsupervised trees or fences to climb?