9/11 Falling Man Photo: Who Was He?

Falling Man: Famous 9/11 Photo

Of all the footage from the September 11, 2001 attacks, few have captured the public's grim fascination like the photos of people jumping to their deaths from the stricken World Trade Center towers. The images that spring to mind were taken by AP photographer Richard Drew and Getty photographer Jose Jimenez. Of these, Richard Drew's the Falling Man is by far the most famous.

The Falling man photo was printed in newspapers around the world on September 12, and was met with outrage by New York Times readers. Now, though, you can set your watch by the spike in search traffic for terms like "falling man 9/11" or "9/11 jumping". Despite publicly decrying these images, obviously people can't help but want to see them.

• 9/11: Photos of People Jumping
• Tourist Guy: 9/11 Fake Photo
  

Photos

Falling Man: 9/11 Photo by Richard Drew

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uploaded by NowPublic Staff

Who is the Falling Man?

The identity of the Falling Man has never been truly confirmed, but he is widely believed to be Johnathan Briley, who worked at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of 1WTC. Johnathan Briley is also the brother of Alex Briley, "the G.I." from The Village People.

The photo was also the subject of a documentary film called, you guessed it, The Falling Man.