Argentinean Tourists Shocked By Empire State Building Jumper

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 09: A general view of The Empire State Building on April 9, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)

Two Argentinean tourists were enjoying a romantic spring night atop the Empire State Building when they were interrupted by a shocking sight: a man literally on the brink of death on 85th floor of the iconic New York City building.

Luis Ariel Jofre and Julieta Paola Barambones saw 33-year old Nathanial Simone, who was wearing black pants and a white button-up shirt, swing his legs out over the ledge of the building, as if he was ready to take a leap to his death. Simone had already plummeted one floor from the top of the Empire State Building’s observation deck, suffering a broken ankle and cuts to his hands.

“He was in his own world, like he was lost,” Jofre told the New York Daily News. “He was calm looking down, like it was nothing, but it was 80 stories high.”

After being alerted of the jumper, security guards were able to take him away from the precipice and New York Fire Department officials took Simone to a local hospital, where he was being treated.

“We’re relieved that he didn’t die,” Jofre added.

New York City Police officials said Simone will be charged with trespassing, but that they were not sure if his attempted leap of the Empire State Building was intentional.

“He climbed over the fence and jumped down,” an NYPD source told the New York Post.

Since construction stared on the Empire State Building in 1929 more than 30 people have committed suicide by jumping off the building. In an eerily similar incident to Wednesday’s leaper, a woman in 1979 attempted suicide by jumping off the 86th floor, only to be blown back onto the 85th floor by a gust of wind and left with a broken hip.

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