NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario - A man who went over Niagara Falls with only the clothes on his back and survived will be charged with illegally performing a stunt, Niagara Parks Police said yesterday.
Kirk Jones, 40, of Canton, Mich., could be fined $10,000.
Stunned tourists described seeing Jones float by on his back Monday in the swift Niagara River, go headfirst over the churning 180-foot waterfall and then pull himself out of the water onto the rocks below.
He just looked calm. He just was gliding by so fast. I was in shock really that I saw a person go by
Brenda McMullen told WIVB-TV in Buffalo.
Jones was not seriously injured and remained hospitalized in Niagara Falls in stable condition.
Police said they were ruling out the possibility it was a suicide attempt.
We're investigating it as an intentional act Niagara Parks Police Inspector Paul Fortier said.
He said psychological tests were being conducted at the hospital.
Fortier said police have a videotape of the act that they believe was made by someone who accompanied Jones. That person has not been charged.
Water rushes over the falls at a rate of 150,000 gallons per second.
No one has ever survived a trip over the narrower and rockier American falls.
Lynda Satelmajer, of Brampton, Ontario, said she and her family watched the man as he entered the river and then went over the falls.
He seemed a bit edgy kind of jumping around
she said. He walked over to where we were standing and he jumped and slid down on his backside and went over the brink. It was really freaky
actually. He was smiling.
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Kirk Jones, 40, of Canton, Mich., waits at the shoreline at the base of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls Monday after surviving a plunge over Niagara Falls, with only the clothes on his back to protect him, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Witnesses describ
