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Yes, you will fall and why don't they just die???? Other people who want to live and have no choice but to jump out of a building die most of the time!
'Garage Jumpers' Prompt Fences In Orlando
Latest Victim Survives 6-Story Fall
POSTED: 11:10 pm EDT May 4, 2005
UPDATED: 12:19 pm EDT May 5, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A death-defying practice of "garage jumping" has prompted the city and a business to take action after another girl nearly dies attempting a jump in Orlando, according to Local 6 News.
Melinda Norstein is the latest victim to step forward after falling during a garage jump. In February, Local 6 Problem Solver Wendy Saltzman reported that young adults were drinking and then leaping between 6-story high parking structures in downtown Orlando.
Since Saltzman's initial report, both the City of Orlando and the private parking lot owner have erected safety fences to prevent the dangerous practice, according to the report. At least two people nearly died when they missed, and plummeted down an 80-foot freefall.
Melinda Norstein (pictured, left) is the newest victim to step forward, according to the report.
"My foot slipped, and I fell straight down." Norstein said. Norstein suffered the bone shattering fall from the top of one of Orlando's six-story parking garages.
"I felt the bones sticking out of my legs, and I realized it was blood," she said. "I realize how lucky I am that I didn't die. I should have, but I didn't."
Her body was nearly broken in half, Saltzman reported.
Twenty-two bones and vertebrae were cracked in the near fatal fall.
"After the accident she was no longer able to walk," said Attorney Peter Andrews.
The parking garages sit just about a foot and a half apart from each other. For some it might seem like an easy jump.
"Some people are thrill seekers, which Melinda was not," Andrews said. "She wasn't thrill-seeking. She did it because she felt she needed to do it under the circumstances she faced." Norstein said she had two choices when she jumped, and she thought she was picking the safest route. As a young female out late at night, her choice was to jump across with her friend, or walk back down to the streets below, which she felt was not safe.
Norstein said she there were no signs warning about the danger, and there was only a partial fence. There was nothing to stop someone from taking a dangerous dive.
"One day I'm just walking on the streets having a good time, the next day I am lying in a hospital bed, unable to move the bottom half of my body," Norstein said.
Norstein says she does take partial responsibility for her decision to jump, but says the garages are responsible as well.
Andrews said the fences erected at the parking garages should have been in place before anyone made the dangerous mistake.
He said these garages know they are opening their doors to people drinking at bars downtown.
"The landowner knows that people are jumping," Andrews said. "The landowner knows there is a potential for people to fall. They have a duty to prevent that."
Saltzman spoke with two other victims who fell while attempting garage jumps in Orlando.
Timothy Bargfreed was a "garage jumper" who was following friends in mid-air attempts to get to the other side, according to the report.
"He saw me step out, and then just disappear off the top of the building," Bargfreed said.
An online poll conducted by Local6.com found 97 percent, or 15,000 viewers believe the garage jumpers are responsible for their own injuries
Yes, you will fall and why don't they just die???? Other people who want to live and have no choice but to jump out of a building die most of the time!
'Garage Jumpers' Prompt Fences In Orlando
Latest Victim Survives 6-Story Fall
POSTED: 11:10 pm EDT May 4, 2005
UPDATED: 12:19 pm EDT May 5, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A death-defying practice of "garage jumping" has prompted the city and a business to take action after another girl nearly dies attempting a jump in Orlando, according to Local 6 News.
Melinda Norstein is the latest victim to step forward after falling during a garage jump. In February, Local 6 Problem Solver Wendy Saltzman reported that young adults were drinking and then leaping between 6-story high parking structures in downtown Orlando.
Since Saltzman's initial report, both the City of Orlando and the private parking lot owner have erected safety fences to prevent the dangerous practice, according to the report. At least two people nearly died when they missed, and plummeted down an 80-foot freefall.
Melinda Norstein (pictured, left) is the newest victim to step forward, according to the report.
"My foot slipped, and I fell straight down." Norstein said. Norstein suffered the bone shattering fall from the top of one of Orlando's six-story parking garages.
"I felt the bones sticking out of my legs, and I realized it was blood," she said. "I realize how lucky I am that I didn't die. I should have, but I didn't."
Her body was nearly broken in half, Saltzman reported.
Twenty-two bones and vertebrae were cracked in the near fatal fall.
"After the accident she was no longer able to walk," said Attorney Peter Andrews.
The parking garages sit just about a foot and a half apart from each other. For some it might seem like an easy jump.
"Some people are thrill seekers, which Melinda was not," Andrews said. "She wasn't thrill-seeking. She did it because she felt she needed to do it under the circumstances she faced." Norstein said she had two choices when she jumped, and she thought she was picking the safest route. As a young female out late at night, her choice was to jump across with her friend, or walk back down to the streets below, which she felt was not safe.
Norstein said she there were no signs warning about the danger, and there was only a partial fence. There was nothing to stop someone from taking a dangerous dive.
"One day I'm just walking on the streets having a good time, the next day I am lying in a hospital bed, unable to move the bottom half of my body," Norstein said.
Norstein says she does take partial responsibility for her decision to jump, but says the garages are responsible as well.
Andrews said the fences erected at the parking garages should have been in place before anyone made the dangerous mistake.
He said these garages know they are opening their doors to people drinking at bars downtown.
"The landowner knows that people are jumping," Andrews said. "The landowner knows there is a potential for people to fall. They have a duty to prevent that."
Saltzman spoke with two other victims who fell while attempting garage jumps in Orlando.
Timothy Bargfreed was a "garage jumper" who was following friends in mid-air attempts to get to the other side, according to the report.
"He saw me step out, and then just disappear off the top of the building," Bargfreed said.
An online poll conducted by Local6.com found 97 percent, or 15,000 viewers believe the garage jumpers are responsible for their own injuries
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