Empire State Building Fall: Nathaniel Fimone Jumps Off 86th Floor Observation Deck, Survives

Empire State Building guests were in for a shock Wednesday night when a man fell from the building’s observation tower onto a catwalk one floor below.

New York City Police Department Mark Nell said authorities are uncertain if the survivor, Nathaniel Fimone, accidentally fell from the Manhattan skyscraper or intentionally jumped, ABC News reports.

“He jumped from the 86th floor and landed on a catwalk just below it, between 86th and 85th floors,” Nell said.

Eyewitnesses said the man appeared to be committing suicide after he was spotted allegedly swinging his legs in the air, appearing to want to fall again after his first foiled attempt, the New York Daily News reports.

“He was in his own world, like he was lost. He was calm looking down, like it was nothing, but it was 80 stories high,” said one witness, 29-year-old Luis Ariel Jofre, who snapped a photo of Fimone sitting on the building ledge.

Empire State Building security guards reportedly talked the man off the ledge.

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

Fimone was transported to New York’s Bellevue hospital for treatment after he suffered from a broken ankle and cuts on his hands and face. FDNY said the man has been classified as emotionally disturbed.

The man is currently facing reckless endangerment, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct charges, ABC News reports.

The last reported Empire State Building jump in 2010 resulted in the death of 21-year-old Yale student Cameron Dabaghi.

“It might be easier to stop a plane than keep a person from doing what he wants to do,” one security guard said. “We have all sorts of security measures in place. It’s not like we didn’t try to stop him.”