Quegiebo
March 9th, 2007, 10:45 PM
Looks like Skypoint has a following for jumpers. . . ;)
2 Face Charges For BASE Jumping
Posted Mar 9, 2007 by Vidisha Priyanka
Updated Mar 9, 2007 at 04:09 PM By Valerie Kalfrin
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - With the sound of wind recorded on a handheld camera, William “Wild Bill” Stroup peered over the edge of the SkyPoint Condominiums under construction in downtown Tampa.
It was about 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, under a nearly full moon. Thirty-three flights of stairs separated Stroup, 43, of New York State from his target: a fenced-in plot on North Franklin Street where the Maas Brothers building used to be.
“That’s a nice landing area,” Stroup said on a videotape released Friday by Tampa police. “Right in the middle of the city, you couldn’t ask for anything better. Hopefully, those winos aren’t sleeping in it when I come in.”
Criminal charges are pending against Stroup, who is staying at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, for his B.A.S.E. jump off the building in the 700 block of North Tampa Street, police said.
B.A.S.E. is an acronym for jumpers who launch from a “building, antenna, structure or earth” instead of an airplane, said Detective Greg Stout, who is investigating the case.
The construction site is apparently popular among jumpers, according to anecdotes from Stroup and his camera operator, Brian “Potato” Barbarossa, of Macon, Ga., Stout said. Stroup told police he had seen a video of a previous jumper.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office will determine what charges will be filed against Stroup, as police did not witness his jump firsthand, Stout said.
Officers charged Barbarossa, 32, with felony trespassing on a construction site. He is free on $3,000 bail, jail records show.
Stroup was cooperative with police, providing them with the videotape and showing officers where he and Barbarossa had parked before their stunt, Stout said. The video was intended for their personal use, the detective said.
The video records the friends moments before Stroup launches himself off the southeast corner of the building. They joke about tying up security guards, whom they had managed to avoid, with parachute lines. In fact, no guards were harmed, Stout said.
Stroup remarks that he has jumped more than 890 times but this is only his second structure. He launched himself recently from an antenna tower in Polk County, Stout said, noting that the building jump also was dangerous.
“He had maybe four seconds before he hit the ground,” Stout said.
On the video, Barbarossa asks Stroup, “Are we nervous?”
“Yes,” Stroup says.
“Good.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I’m … petrified,” Stroup says, wishing aloud for a cigarette.
Barbarossa advises him to focus on the Verizon building in the distance, not the ground. “Let’s have some insanity,” he says. “Let’s get ‘er done.”
“When I climb up, I’m not giving you much of a count,” Stroup says, ticking off the minutes as he works up his nerve.
Barbarossa rests the camera on the edge of the building. He turns his face to the lens. “Remember that kids. Always jump off the corner of a building, never off the middle. If you can’t figure out why, I’m not gonna tell ya, ‘cause you’re that stupid.”
Then, with a “three, two, one,” Stroup leaps. Barbarossa yanks his ripcord, then scrambles to scoop up the camera and tape the 12-second flight to the ground.
An updraft between the downtown high-rises caught Stroup by surprise, police said, turning him at first into the M&I Bank building at 601 N. Ashley Drive.
On the tape, Stroup adjusts his path and arcs over Tampa Street. “Make it in,” Barbarossa mutters on the video about five times.
As Stroup drops into the empty lot, Barbarossa observes, “Nice.”
A man driving southbound on Tampa Street alerted police to the stunt, according to a 911 recording police also released Friday. “I noticed something come over my head,” the driver told a dispatcher. “It’s a guy with a kind of parachute kind of thing.” The man directed police by phone to where Stroup landed. “That is strange somebody would do that,” the 911 caller remarked. “You never know what goes on nowadays, you know what I’m saying?”
Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.
http://tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/2-arrested-for-base-jumping/?imw=Y
2 Face Charges For BASE Jumping
Posted Mar 9, 2007 by Vidisha Priyanka
Updated Mar 9, 2007 at 04:09 PM By Valerie Kalfrin
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - With the sound of wind recorded on a handheld camera, William “Wild Bill” Stroup peered over the edge of the SkyPoint Condominiums under construction in downtown Tampa.
It was about 3:45 a.m. Tuesday, under a nearly full moon. Thirty-three flights of stairs separated Stroup, 43, of New York State from his target: a fenced-in plot on North Franklin Street where the Maas Brothers building used to be.
“That’s a nice landing area,” Stroup said on a videotape released Friday by Tampa police. “Right in the middle of the city, you couldn’t ask for anything better. Hopefully, those winos aren’t sleeping in it when I come in.”
Criminal charges are pending against Stroup, who is staying at Skydive City in Zephyrhills, for his B.A.S.E. jump off the building in the 700 block of North Tampa Street, police said.
B.A.S.E. is an acronym for jumpers who launch from a “building, antenna, structure or earth” instead of an airplane, said Detective Greg Stout, who is investigating the case.
The construction site is apparently popular among jumpers, according to anecdotes from Stroup and his camera operator, Brian “Potato” Barbarossa, of Macon, Ga., Stout said. Stroup told police he had seen a video of a previous jumper.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s office will determine what charges will be filed against Stroup, as police did not witness his jump firsthand, Stout said.
Officers charged Barbarossa, 32, with felony trespassing on a construction site. He is free on $3,000 bail, jail records show.
Stroup was cooperative with police, providing them with the videotape and showing officers where he and Barbarossa had parked before their stunt, Stout said. The video was intended for their personal use, the detective said.
The video records the friends moments before Stroup launches himself off the southeast corner of the building. They joke about tying up security guards, whom they had managed to avoid, with parachute lines. In fact, no guards were harmed, Stout said.
Stroup remarks that he has jumped more than 890 times but this is only his second structure. He launched himself recently from an antenna tower in Polk County, Stout said, noting that the building jump also was dangerous.
“He had maybe four seconds before he hit the ground,” Stout said.
On the video, Barbarossa asks Stroup, “Are we nervous?”
“Yes,” Stroup says.
“Good.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I’m … petrified,” Stroup says, wishing aloud for a cigarette.
Barbarossa advises him to focus on the Verizon building in the distance, not the ground. “Let’s have some insanity,” he says. “Let’s get ‘er done.”
“When I climb up, I’m not giving you much of a count,” Stroup says, ticking off the minutes as he works up his nerve.
Barbarossa rests the camera on the edge of the building. He turns his face to the lens. “Remember that kids. Always jump off the corner of a building, never off the middle. If you can’t figure out why, I’m not gonna tell ya, ‘cause you’re that stupid.”
Then, with a “three, two, one,” Stroup leaps. Barbarossa yanks his ripcord, then scrambles to scoop up the camera and tape the 12-second flight to the ground.
An updraft between the downtown high-rises caught Stroup by surprise, police said, turning him at first into the M&I Bank building at 601 N. Ashley Drive.
On the tape, Stroup adjusts his path and arcs over Tampa Street. “Make it in,” Barbarossa mutters on the video about five times.
As Stroup drops into the empty lot, Barbarossa observes, “Nice.”
A man driving southbound on Tampa Street alerted police to the stunt, according to a 911 recording police also released Friday. “I noticed something come over my head,” the driver told a dispatcher. “It’s a guy with a kind of parachute kind of thing.” The man directed police by phone to where Stroup landed. “That is strange somebody would do that,” the 911 caller remarked. “You never know what goes on nowadays, you know what I’m saying?”
Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.
http://tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/story/2-arrested-for-base-jumping/?imw=Y