Say Their Stunt Points To Need For Better Security At The New Skyscraper

A group of BASE jumpers who parachuted off the World Trade Center tower and then vanished into the Manhattan streetscape last year surrendered to authorities Monday saying their jump points to security issues with the city's tallest building.

The New York Times reports that Andrew Rossig, one of the jumpers, said "we just kind of walked in" before entering the First Precinct station house in lower Manhattan Monday. With his attorney present, he said it raised concerns about the security of the building. "God forbid it was somebody else getting in there with a real intention to harm New Yorkers."

Rossig's attorney Timothy Parlatore said the men had climbed 104 flights of stairs without being challenged by a security guard.

Police have been searching for Rossig and the three others ... two of whom jumped off the building with him while a fourth kept watch below ... since the incident last November. Detectives reportedly identified two of the men in January and obtained search warrants for their homes. There they found video recordings of the jump captured with cameras mounted on their helmets.

Negotiations between the BASE jumpers' attorneys and city authorities have been going on for some time. They attorneys said they expect to be charged with trespassing and burglary, the latter charge because the entered the building with the intention of committing a crime.

(Image used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Photo by Joe Mabel)

FMI: www.panynj.gov