By Amanda Thomason October 8, 2021 at 3:50pm
On Wednesday morning, bystanders in Jersey City, New Jersey, watched as a man plunged nine stories to the ground.
It was a fall that would have killed most — but the man landed on a BMW with a sunroof and miraculously survived.
Christina Smith, 21, was passing by when she heard a loud sound.
“I heard a big boom and I didn’t think it was a person at first,” Smith said, according to the New York Post. “The back window of the car just busted out — exploded. Then the guy jumped up and started screaming. His arm was all twisted.”
“I was shocked. It was like being in a movie. He was like, ‘What happened?’ And [I] was like, ‘You fell.’”
Man plunges 9 stories from NJ high rise, lands on BMW — and survives https://t.co/ZnMO8sIVJj pic.twitter.com/CKByrEi5eT
— New York Post (@nypost) October 7, 2021
After calling 911, Smith started recording the incident and shared the video on Facebook.
“I cannot believe I [saw] this man fall from the building and land on a car in [Jersey City],” she wrote. “It’s still replaying in my head!”
The video shows the disoriented man lolling on the ground and asking what happened. His arm is clearly badly broken.
The unnamed 31-year-old victim was quickly tended to by first responders and rushed to a hospital in critical condition — but the fact that he was in any condition at all is still a shock to many.
“I was thinking, thank God, it probably helped that he had a fluffy jacket on,” Smith said.
Others who saw the dramatic fall were equally surprised. Mark Bordeaux said it seemed the man had been providentially protected.
“He fell into the car through the sunroof, then climbed out of the car and fell on the ground,” Bordeaux said. “He was trying to get up but people were trying to get him to stay down — ‘You don’t know how hurt you are.’”
“So he stayed there until the police and ambulances came. He kept saying, ‘Leave me alone, I want to die.’ You saw one of his arms was clearly broken, but he was conscious, he was moving.
“He wanted to die. That was his agenda. But God had something else in mind.”
The man does not work at the building, and it was unclear why he was there. He was also uncooperative with authorities and did not give them his name.
Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said police are investigating the incident but do not believe it involves any “suspicious circumstances.”
Wallace-Scalcione said the man was still in critical condition as of Thursday.
Amanda holds an MA in Rhetoric and TESOL from Cal Poly Pomona. After teaching composition and logic for several years, she’s strayed into writing full-time and especially enjoys animal-related topics.
As of January 2019, Amanda has written over 1,000 stories for The Western Journal but doesn’t really know how. Graduating from California State Polytechnic University with a MA in Rhetoric/Composition and TESOL, she wrote her thesis about metacognitive development and the skill transfer between reading and writing in freshman students.
She has a slew of interests that keep her busy, including trying out new recipes, enjoying nature, discussing ridiculous topics, reading, drawing, people watching, developing curriculum, and writing bios. Sometimes she has red hair, sometimes she has brown hair, sometimes she’s had teal hair.
With a book on productive communication strategies in the works, Amanda is also writing and illustrating some children’s books with her husband, Edward.
Location
Austin, Texas
Languages Spoken
English und ein bißchen Deutsch
Topics of Expertise
Faith, Animals, Cooking