A Lethbridge man has been charged with trespassing after jumping off the High Level Bridge with a parachute.
A video is making the rounds that shows Johnny Korthuis, 25, as he walks out onto the railway bridge, stands on the railing and then jumps more than 95 metres to the river valley below.
Police received a call from an area resident saying someone had jumped off the bridge so they went to investigate.
“As a police service we’re concerned that the notoriety this video seems to be generating could potentially lead to copy-cats and the last thing we want to have to do is go and knock on somebody’s door and tell them that their loved one has been seriously injured or killed as a result of a stunt of this kind,” said Kristen Harding of the Lethbridge Regional Police Service.
Taking risks is nothing new for Korthuis.
He is an adventure athlete and performer and is well known for his extreme cycling demonstrations that promote sports equipment and cycling safety.
“By no means did I ever want to inspire unsafe or illegal behavior. Safety is priority one and you want to be able to do the things you love for your whole life rather than getting reckless and doing things for the adrenaline rush,” said Korthius.
The stunt was recorded on Saturday and the video is all the rage online.
Korthius says the video was a collaboration with one of his sponsors and what happens to it is out of his control.
Korthius was fined $287 for the stunt and is receiving offers from admirers offering to pay it.
He says he won’t accept and says he was simply fulfilling a life-long dream.
“I just want to clear up my motives are not to be reckless or to be bad ass or anything like that, but I just simply had a goal, one that I had been looking forward to achieving for a long time,” said Korthius.
He says he knew jumping off the bridge was illegal, but he never expected it would receive this much attention.
