Today's Top News Stories • Report: In U.S., record numbers are plunged into poverty - • VP's plane has minor electrical problem - • Israeli troops raid West Bank city - • Severe storms injure 27 in Arkansas - • Va. lawmakers pass slavery apology - • Add USATODAY.com RSS feeds

Man goes 173 ft. down in history at Niagara Falls By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario  No barrel, no life jacket, no problem: A 40-year-old daredevil has become the first person known to survive a plunge over Niagara Falls wearing just his clothes. Jones waits at the shore Monday after surviving a plunge over Niagara Falls. By Terry McMullen, AP Kirk Jones of Canton, Mich., was in stable condition Tuesday after jumping into the Niagara River on Monday and floating over the Canadian side of the falls on his back, with nothing to sustain him but a smile and a big set of lungs. In a phone interview Wednesday with ABC News, Jones said he had been depressed, but surviving the plunge made him want to live again. "I honestly thought that it wasn't worth going on. But I can tell you now after hitting the falls I feel that life is worth living," he said. Experts agreed that the odds of surviving such a plunge are as low as the falls are high. "He's one lucky man," said Paul Gromosiak, a Niagara Falls historian. "When he gets out of the hospital, he should visit a casino. He's on a roll." Not exactly. Police said Jones will be charged with illegally performing a stunt. He could face a fine up to $10,000. "It puts (rescuers) at risk," said Brian Merrett, chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission. "That's why we are so adamant (against) stunting." Jones slid into the upper Niagara River on Monday afternoon, and the current pulled him toward the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Beforehand, he had appeared "a bit edgy, kind of jumping around," said a bystander, Lynda Satelmajer. "It was really freaky, actually," she said. "He was smiling." Eric Fronek, 21, also of Canton, told ABC that his friend had discussed going over the falls in the past, but was driven to act by depression. "I think he just reached the point where whatever happened was the best plan for him ... If he made it, he might benefit with money. If he died, so be it," Fronek said. "That's what depression will do to you." Jones said he made the jump on impulse, and immediately wished he hadn't. Going over the falls was like "being in a giant tunnel, going straight down, surrounded by water," Jones told ABC. He said he "hit hard," was turned upside down in the water below, then pushed out far enough by the current to climb onto a rock. Terry McMullen, a vacationing auto parts salesman, told reporters he saw Jones go over the brink of the churning 173-foot-high waterfall: "He had his hands above his head." Moments later, McMullen was shocked to see the same man pull himself out of the water onto the rocks below. Police said they had a videotape of the plunge that they believe was made by an accomplice. Jones was described as a salesman long fascinated with Niagara Falls. In recent weeks, he spoke repeatedly of the possibility of surviving a jump from the top, according to friends and family. Jones' brother Keith said Kirk sounded fine when he spoke with him Tuesday morning: "He said, 'Yeah, I jumped in the falls. It's a long way down.' It wasn't as cold as he thought. He sounded relaxed." Keith Jones said his brother had gone with their parents to Niagara Falls about a month ago. Before the trip, he had been talking about going over the falls. When he returned without having taken the plunge, Keith Jones said he thought his brother had been joking. In reality, the brother said, "that was his research." Speculation centered Tuesday on how he survived. Wesley Hill, whose brother Red died trying to go over the falls in 1951 in an inner tube and canvas barrel, told The Buffalo News that animals had gone over the falls and lived, and that he had long believed a person could, too. Hill said a person could "ride" on a cushion of water that, under perfect conditions, would protect him from the rocks at the base of the falls. The falls have always exerted a fatal attraction. Officials estimate about 20 people a year commit suicide there. Of the 15 people who deliberately made the plunge in the 20th century, 10 lived and five died, Gromosiak said. They've used various types of barrels and spheres, as well as a kayak and a Jet Ski. No one has survived the narrower, rockier American side of the falls. Besides Jones, the only person to live after going over the Canadian falls without a barrel or similar contraption was 7-year-old Roger Woodward, who was wearing a life preserver when he was thrown into the Niagara River in a boating accident in 1960. The Buffalo newspapers called that "The Miracle of Niagara." It was hard to know what to call Jones' stunt. But Woodward, now a 50-year-old business executive in Huntsville, Ala., had a word for it: silly. "If it's a stunt, I think it's silly foolishness," he said Tuesday, "and I don't want to have anything to do with it." "After 43 years, I still remember it like it happened yesterday," Woodward told the Canadian Press. "I never had any sensation or realization I was going over the falls. It was more like being on a cloud." "I hope this person realizes they've been given a second chance in life," said Woodward, a father of three. Contributing: The Associated Press Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.