Man jumps at Palisades mall on dare: cops





WEST NYACK – Dared by a friend to jump from the second to the first floor at the Palisades Center on Sunday, a possibly drunken Nicholas Diblasi did, Clarkstown police said.

The 21-year-old from Park Ridge, New Jersey, ended up in Nyack Hospital with left-leg and other injuries after he hit the floor after plunging 20 feet. He also faces criminal charges, police said.

Officers found Diblasi "sitting on the floor, conscious, dazed and seemingly intoxicated," police Sgt. Glenn Cummings said. Diblasi told police he had "jumped over the railing on the second floor ... and that he had done so on a dare from his friend, who doubted his resolve to do it," Cummings said.

His injuries were not life-threatening, police said. He jumped at 12:25 p.m. near Macy's, police Sgt. Richard Von Ronn said.

"It wasn't a suicide attempt. He didn't fall," Von Ronn said. "This was just a stunt, a prank."

Cummings said alcohol may have spurred the dare — and the nerve to jump. Diblasi and his friend admitted drinking beer before coming to the mall and then having another beer at the shopping center, Cummings said.

Diblasi is charged with second-degree reckless endangerment for his spontaneous jump into a well-trafficked pedestrian area, Cummings said. Police left Diblasi in the custody of Nyack Hospital staff. He is due Feb. 23 in Clarkstown Town Court.

A 54-year-old man accidentally fell to his death at the mall in October.

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