Three men in viral video of One World Trade BASE jump were just convicted of multiple crimes
Getty Images/Mohd RasfanThree men who parachuted from the top of One World Trade Center were just convicted of criminal charges.
On Monday, a Manhattan jury found them James Brady, 33, Andrew Rossig, 34, and Marko Markovich, 28 guilty of reckless endangerment, reckless endangerment of property and unauthorized climbing, jumping and suspending oneself from a structure.
According to prosecutors, last September, the men sneaked through a gap in the construction fence at the then-unfinished One World Trade building.
They then jumped from a height of nearly a quarter of a mile in a vivid demonstration of BASE jumping, an extreme sport that can involve jumping from a building, antenna or cliff.
The jump took them over several Manhattan blocks.
Their leap from the top of the 104-story building was partly caught on security video that showed at least two figures in black suits and helmets floating down beneath open parachutes and landing on the streets of lower Manhattan, one of their defense attorneys said.
The plunge was also captured in videos shot with cameras strapped to the jumpers' helmets and posted on YouTube, one of which has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.
Defense attorneys during the trial had fought successfully to have the burglary charge dropped, arguing it did not apply to someone who jumped from the outside of a building.
The building was still under construction when the jumpers pulled off their stunt early on Sept. 30, 2013.
The skyscraper stands on the location where more than 2,700 people perished when hijacked planes slammed into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
One World Trade Center opened to its first tenants in November last year.
Watch the video below: