A bloodied and “emotionally disturbed” man was caught on camera dropping into New York City’s 9/11 Memorial pool on Monday as spectators looked on in shock.
A video posted to social media showed the unnamed 33-year-old man wading through the shallow pool, having already dropped down 30 feet into the memorial.
Spectators called out to the man, who could then be seen crawling head-first towards the 20 foot drop in the middle of the memorial.
A second video, taken from a different angle, then showed the man pulling himself slowly into the drop while laying face-down, before plunging head-first as spectators cried out. A pool of blood could be seen at the edge of the 20 foot drop where he had been crawling.
9/11 MEMORIAL—A 33 year old man tossed himself headfirst over the ledge of the North Pool yesterday afternoon.
Despite falling 20 feet, the unidentified man survived with only a leg injury.
He was arrested without incident and his motives for the fall are still unknown. pic.twitter.com/HwNLy8BgmU
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) October 10, 2023
According to NBC News, the man survived the incident and was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries following his rescue by Port Authority Police.
A Port Authority spokesperson described the man as an “apparently emotionally disturbed person.”
CBS News reported that the man told police he “did this for his father.” However, it is currently unknown whether the man lost any relatives during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
