The Falling Man

“The Falling Man” is a nickname given to a man who fell from the North Tower of the World trade Center during the September 11 attacks in New York City, and is also the title of a photograph, magazine story and documentary film about the incident. The photo was taken by Richard Drew at 9:: 41:15 a.m on September 11, 2001. The story written by Tom Junod, appeared in the September 2003 issue of Esquire magazine, and was Slater made into a film.

The subject of the image – whose identity remains uncertain, although attempts have been made to identify him- was one of the people trapped on the upper floors of the skyscraper who apparently chose to jump rather than die from the fire and smoke, while the buildings collapsed. As many as 200 people jumped to their deaths; there was no time to recover or identify those who jumped prior to that. Officially , all deaths in the attacks except those of the hijackers were ruled to be homicides (as opposed to suicides), and the New York city Medical Examiner’s Office stated that it does not classify the people who fell to their deaths on September 11 as “ jumpers”. (“A ‘jumper ‘is somebody who goes to the office to the morning prepared to commit suicide…) These people were forced out by smoke and flames or blown out.”

This picture is somewhat deceptive; it gives the impression that the man is falling straight down. In reality, this is just one of a dozen photographs of his fall. In the other photos, it is evident that he is tumbling through the air out of control.

Five years after the attacks, Jonathan Briley, a 43 – year-old employee of the Windows on the World restaurant, was identified by chef Michael Lomonaco as The Falling Man. Brilley was a sound engineer who lived in Mount Vernon. New York and worked in the North Tower restaurant. According to the film, the victim was initially identified by his brother in the morgue by the victim’s hands and shoes. Lomonaco claims that he was able to identify Briley by his clothes and body- type. In one of the pictures. The Falling Man’s Clothes were blown away, revealing an orange undershirt similar to the shirt that Briley wore to work almost every day. His older sister, Gwendolyn, asserted he was wearing that shirt on the day of the attack. However, the identity of The Falling Man has never been officially confirmed.