Man Attempting Movie Stunt Dies After Bridge Jump Durango Man Attempted Scene In 'Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid'

POSTED: 1:28 am MDT June 27, 2005

DURANGO, Colo. -- A 36-year-old Durango man jumped from a bridge into the Animas River to his death trying to match a movie stunt by Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

Timothy White's body was discovered about two miles downstream from Baker's Bridge, where he plunged more than 75 feet before landing in the icy river, said Larry Foukas, investigator for the La Plata County Sheriff's Office.

"He wanted to do what Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did," said Foukas.

Friends said White had been telling them he was going to jump off the bridge, about 20 miles north of Durango, for some time, Foukas said.

"They didn't know he was going to do it. The next thing they knew, he was up on the bridge and basically jumped" Friday evening, said Foukas.

White surfaced after the jump and swam toward the shore, but the river was moving fast because of above-normal mountain runoff in the Rockies, his friends said. They watched him go under about 20 feet from the river bank.

"It's flowing hard, and it's just so cold," Foukas said. "Your body freezes up once you hit the water."

He said jumping from the bridge into the river has been a popular dare ever since the bridge was used in the 1969 classic Western film. "It's a big college and high school thing."

When the actors made the jump they landed in a net with the rest of the fall created by special effects.

Foukas said White wasn't the first to die jumping from the bridge, but he added there is no law banning jumping from it. Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Submitted on 06/27/2005

Submitted by: Jon McEachern
Reference:

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Found a cached copy of the msnbc report. Not married, no children and repeating a stunt that others have died repeating...knowing that the actors used a net and special effects...I think this qualfies as worthy.

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm not really happy with this because the story implies that many others had made the jump successfully. So he had the expectation that he could as well.

Charles said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I have to agree with Jack, to a certain extent -- it was stupid to do this at a time when the river was "flowing fast because of the above-normal runoff". All the same, others had done the same thing successfully...

Tracy said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Not sure about this one - it does seem that others had made the jump successfully, so he would believe he could do it

Jorge said:
Definitely Toss: Other

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