Jumpy Yankee Fan Arrested

A fan who plunged from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium onto the screen behind home plate during Tuesday night's game between New York and the Chicago White Sox was released from the hospital into police custody Wednesday — and then was charged with trespassing.

The game was delayed for four minutes in the eighth inning after 18-year-old Scott Harper, of Armonk, N.Y., plummeted about 40 feet onto the large net.

After the final out, he was carried from the ballpark on a stretcher, his head immobilized in a neck brace, and taken to Lincoln Medical Center, where he was treated and released Wednesday.

Harper was charged with trespassing on the playing area of a professional sporting event, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and other violations, according to a criminal complaint.

He was arraigned in Bronx Criminal Court and was released on his own recognizance, district attorney's office spokesman Steven Reed said. He did not enter a plea and faces up to a year in jail if convicted. He's due back in court Sept. 6.

Harper told three friends with whom he was sitting that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight and then he jumped, police said.

Obviously scared and shaken after he landed, Harper sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats as players watched and the crowd roared. Harper then was hoisted over the railing and led away by security.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner quipped after his team's 2-1 loss that Harper's plunge was "the only exciting thing that happened today."

Harper's friends denied allegations they could have tossed him over the railing.

"People think we threw him off, but we're all best friends, so I don't think that would ever happen," said Giusseppe Tripi, 20.

It was the second time in five years a fan dropped from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium. In May 2000, Stephen Laurenzi, 24, of Yonkers, N.Y., was unconscious for a short time while sprawled on the net as a game between Boston and New York went on. He also was arrested and taken to a hospital for observation.