Would-Be Empire State Jumper Foiled

The host of a cable television show and professional BASE jumper — who passed through security at the Empire State Building wearing a rubber mask and foam fat suit that made him appear to be an overweight, elderly man — was arrested Thursday when he tried to parachute from the skyscraper, authorities said.

Much of the incident was

J. Ray Corliss IV, a Discovery Channel host from Malibu, Calif., was being charged with assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses, said Police Inspector James McCarthy.

Underneath Corliss' elaborate costume was a parachute, jumping gear and a helmet, police said. When he got to the 86th floor, he went into a bathroom, took off the fat suit and tried to carry out his stunt — wearing the helmet with a video camera attached.

The man peeled off the mask as he was getting set to jump, revealing his face.

But the building staff had been tipped to the caper, police said. Corliss, 30, climbed over a security fence on the side of the skyscraper, but a guard grabbed his leg before he could jump, they said.

"He was fighting with us to get off," said Timothy Donahue of the building security staff. "He wanted to jump off in the worst way."

"He was trying to jump. He was trying to get free. He was wrestling, trying to get free, saying, 'Let me go, let me go,' " witness Erin Skelton told reporter Andrea Stassou of CBS station WCBS-TV in New York.

"We were face-to-face, for quite awhile, because I'd actually gone up on the railing with him, and I had the harness through the bars," Donahue remarked to Stassou.

A lingering concern is how the man got past police, Stassou says.

"It's a very expensive, elaborate costume. … There's many visitors that visit the Empire State Building every day, and he walked in with the rest of the individuals, unnoticed," New York Police Department Deputy Inspector James McCarthy told reporters.

Officials say Corliss was able to jump the security fence in seconds.

"It appeared to be alarmingly easy for him," Stassou observed.

"He was up that fence, basically, in one step; when he hit the rail he went right to the fence," Arthur Felder of the building security staff told Stassou.

Some tourists told Stassou they'll never forget what they saw.

A giggling LaDonna Meaders said, "This is, like, big-time for us. So, we got it on a little bit of tape so everybody would believe us."

A security guard hit his head on the concrete floor of the observation deck while restraining Corliss and was being examined Thursday night, Donahue said.

McCarthy said Corliss told authorities he had performed similar stunts in the past, but had never been caught. Corliss was in custody, and there was no telephone listing for him at the home address provided by police.

Corliss is the host of the Discovery Channel's "Stunt Junkies," a show dedicated to extreme sports such as skydiving.

The Discovery Channel's Web site said he is an expert BASE jumper — someone who parachutes from fixed objects — and has jumped off the 1,483-foot Malaysian Petronas Towers and from a 3,000-foot cliff in Norway.

The Empire State Building opened in 1931 and reigned as the city's tallest building until the World Trade Center was completed in the early 1970s.