Jake Torrid, a police officer with an unconventional streak, 36, remains
hanging precariously from a sixtieth storey skyscraper window ledge today as a
rope that is his only means of escape remains tantalisingly just out of his reach.
“It’s a real pickle,” Torrid told reporters. “If I could just reach the rope, then I
could pull myself to safety and get that sonofabitch who killed my partner.”
Torrid demonstrated his predicament by stretching his arm as far as he could
and showed that the rope was still three to four inches away from the tips of
his fingers.
Bystanders seemed to doubt whether Torrid would succeed in extricating
himself from his life-threatening situation. “He simply can’t reach it,” said
Mrs. F. Gladdhurst, a housewife. “The rope is too far away. I think he’s going
to fall.”
Looking anxious and in great peril, Torrid says he now plans to reach for the rope
one last time in the hope that a final burst of effort will enable him to grab it
and pull himself to safety, despite his earlier, failed attempts.
If he falls, his only chance of surviving will be to land on the back of a truck
carrying empty cardboard boxes that has been seen driving in the area,
although most observers believe the chances of that happening are fairly remote.
