{"id":312899,"date":"2026-08-03T22:06:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:06:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/312899\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T22:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T22:06:25","slug":"the-surprising-reason-why-brooklyn-bridge-nutbag-may-have-survived-overwhelmingly-fatal-plunge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/312899\/","title":{"rendered":"The surprising reason why Brooklyn Bridge nutbag may have survived ‘overwhelmingly fatal’ plunge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The miraculous survival of a disturbed man who leaped from the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday<\/a> could have come down to a handful of factors \u2014 the likeliest being the precise position of his body when he landed in the East River, an expert told The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cJumping or falling from extreme heights \u2013 such as a 270-foot bridge tower \u2013 is overwhelmingly fatal,\u201d said Dr. David S. Shapiro, a trauma surgeon with more than 30 years of experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt generates extreme kinetic energy that causes widespread, life-threatening trauma,\u201d added Shapiro, who now works at New England Donor Services.<\/p>\n

Galymzhan Abaildayev, 44, climbs the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday, August 2, 2026. Abaildayev affixed multiple flags to the bridge and jumped into the East River before being rescued by the NYPD Harbor Unit. X\/@m_alejandr07<\/p>\n

The total distance of the jump ranges 276.5 to 278.25 ft.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, cops said the 44-year-old jumper, identified as Galymzhan Abaildayev<\/a>, is in stable condition after his 278-foot leap from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge, which Shapiro said could be attributable to several variables, though not many of them likely.<\/p>\n

The bag Abaildayev was carrying could have served as a \u201cmakeshift parachute\u201d that reduced his descent speed just enough to spare his life before he crashed into the water\u2019s surface, which Shapiro said was likely at a speed between 79-87 mph.<\/p>\n

Another remote possibility is that an object such as a rock could have fallen just ahead of Abaildayev, disturbing and thereby slightly softening the surface of the water, reducing the impact on his body.<\/p>\n

Shapiro points out that there\u2019s absolutely no evidence that either of those conditions existed, noting Abaildayev\u2019s best, and most likely chance for survival was his body\u2019s position when he entered the water.<\/p>\n

Galymzhan Abaildayev, 44, climbs the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday, August 2, 2026. Abaildayev affixed multiple flags to the bridge before jumping into the East River, where he was rescued by the NYPD Harbor Unit. X\/@m_alejandr07<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you slap your hand on the water palm down, it makes a big splash \u2026 if you hit it vertically like a karate chop you\u2019ll see it slice through the water. The position your body is in when it enters the water makes a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made the comparison to cliff-divers, who position their bodies so that they are able to hit the water at speeds up to 60 mph before coming to a near dead stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t head-first dive. If you lock your body in, perfectly straight vertically, you\u2019ll go through the water a lot easier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Shapiro said trauma centers refer to injuries suffered by people who fall from a height as \u201cdeceleration\u201d injuries \u2013 similar to how if someone suddenly hits a brick wall when they\u2019re driving a car, their body is thrown forward and rapidly goes from a high speed to 0 mph.<\/p>\n

\u201cModern airbags aren\u2019t just cushions, they blow up then instantly release so it slows you down but doesn\u2019t stop you because you want to slow someone down rapidly, but not instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abaildayev was fished out of the river by Harbor Unit cops and has since been charged with reckless endangerment, making graffiti, public lewdness, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.<\/p>\n

As for the types of injuries that would be typical in a patient who had endured such a fall, Shapiro said they ran the gamut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d expect things like internal injuries \u2013 particularly what we call lacerations \u2014 of the spleen and liver \u2013 as well as skeletal, joint or bone injuries. If you land on your feet, your heel bone, one of the highest-impact bones in your body, it can cause a complex ankle fracture on both sides,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the massive femur bones could also be injured, and that the cascading effect of the kinetic energy transmitting from the legs could also fracture the pelvis.<\/p>\n

Since both the femurs and pelvis sit near major blood vessels, Shapiro said a fall-type injury can cause severe vascular injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Vertical injuries\u2019\u201d \u2013 where someone lands directly on their feet or head \u2013 can cause a variety of trauma, including burst fractures of the spine and at the base of the skull, injuring both the brain and spinal cord,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. David S. Shapiro said the position Abaildayev was in when he hit the water \u201cmakes a big difference.\u201d X\/@m_alejandr07<\/p>\n

\u201cSurvival in rare instances requires an extraordinarily precise alignment of factors: reduced descent velocity, ideal body orientation, and immediate access to trauma care to mitigate lethal internal hemorrhage,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in this setting can die from the impact, drowning and injuries that may not seem immediately lethal but result in significant bleeding, brain trauma, and other injuries that together are enough to cause death in most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abaildayev was quickly fished out of the river by Harbor Unit cops and rushed to Bellevue somehow in stable condition. He was since charged with reckless endangerment, making graffiti, public lewdness, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, police announced Monday.<\/p>\n

Although he was listed in stable condition, Shapiro points out that he\u2019s not necessarily out of the woods just yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can also have a fall and survive and die days or weeks later from other injuries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The miraculous survival of a disturbed man who leaped from the Brooklyn Bridge on Sunday could have come…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,11198,100,99,972,8108,57,9,24,63,103,58],"class_list":["post-312899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-bridge","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-doctors","tag-east-river","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nypd","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}