by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Last Sunday, Galymzhan Abaildayev, a 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York, resident who is a native of Kazakhstan, earned his fifteen minutes of fame by climbing the north (Manhattan) tower of the Brooklyn Bridge and jumping into the East River - and surviving!
The jumper was wearing a large backpack as he climbed the tower, and when he arrived at the top he pulled two flags from the backpack which he displayed and affixed to the structure. One flag was reportedly the national flag of Kazakhstan, and the symbolism of the other flag has not been revealed. The motivation for the potentially fatal stunt remains unclear. After the flags were displayed, the man stripped naked and leapt free of the structure.
The New York Post referred to the jumper as a "naked nutjob."
Abaildayev was pulled from the river by Harbor Unit of the New York City Police Department. He is currently in stable condition at a local hospital. The jumper is facing charges of reckless endangerment, graffiti, public lewdness, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct - with everything being thrown at him except the proverbial "kitchen sink." There is no word yet on whether former New York City residents George Santos or Donald Trump are claiming to have made the dive first - or better!
This most recent jumper is just one of a very long list of individuals who have chosen to leap from the Brooklyn Bridge since it first opened in 1883, with the first, Robert Emmet Odlum, jumping in 1885, just five days short of the famed bridge's second anniversary. Odlum died during the endeavor, and so have most of the jumpers since. People who study these matters say that the most recent jumper/diver, Mr. Abaildayev, survived because of his positioning as he entered the water.
Kudos to the Harbor Police for the rescue of a "naked nutjob." They clearly went above and beyond the scope of their normal duties to save the life of a troubled individual.
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