An estimated one-hundred to two-hundred people fell or jumped to their deaths after being blown or forced out from the flames and smoke after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Many of the bodies were never recovered.
This photograph of a man plummeting from the North Tower was taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew. The image, known as “The Falling Man,” was published in the New York Times on September 12.
The Falling Man has not been conclusively identified. In a 2016 retrospective of the September 11 attacks, Time Magazine states “The true power of Falling Man . . . is less about who its subject was and more about what he became: a makeshift Unknown Soldier in an often unknown and uncertain war, suspended forever in history.”
Identity Unknown
In viewing the photograph, it appears the man is falling straight down but a series of photographs taken shows him to be tumbling through the air.
Tumbling Through the Air
Because of anger over the photo’s publication, it was not published in the newspaper again, although it was published on page 1 of The New York Times Book Review in 2007.
The Publication of the Photo Drew Criticism
Forty-two-year-old Norberto Hernandez was a pastry chef at Windows of the World, a restaurant on the 106th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Some family members initially believed he could have been The Falling Man but after viewing enhanced images of the man’s clothing concluded he was not Norberto.
Norberto Hernandez
The most likely possibility as to the identity of The Falling Man is forty-three-year-year-old Jonathan Briley, who also worked at Windows of the World, as a sound engineer. His brother Alex is an original member of the 1970s disco group The Village People.
In one of the photos, the Falling Man’s shirt or white jacket are blown open and up, showing an orange t-shirt similar to one often worn by Jonathan. Jonathan’s brother, sister, and boss believe Jonathan could be The Falling Man, but the large number of people trapped in the tower whose remains were never found continues to make conclusive identification difficult.
Jonathan Briley
The Falling Man photographer Richard Drew was also one of the four press photographers at Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel when Senator and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968.
Richard Drew
Sources:
- New York Times
- Time Magazine
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