Police: Man jumps off bridge for job application
February 11th, 2009 by Ana X. CeronFORT PIERCE — When Christopher Grima prepared to apply for his dream job, he wanted his application to set him apart from the other candidates.
Christopher Grima
So he jumped off a bridge.
That’s how the 25-year-old marine biology student plunged into trouble on Tuesday when he leapt from the South Causeway Bridge.
Grima faces a disorderly conduct charge after Fort Pierce police, the St. Lucie County marine unit, U.S. Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission all rushed to his aid that morning only to learn it was a stunt.
“I started to get a little nervous,” Grima said of the big response.
Before authorities left, they reprimanded him for the costs involved in their response and handed him a notice to appear in court.
But Grima said he wasn’t thinking so much about consequences when he leapt from the bridge to South Hutchinson Island. His mind was on the gig promoted as “the best job in the world” — a year in Australia’s Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef.
The job description includes snorkeling the reef, strolling the beach and blogging about your adventures in order to reel in tourists. The salary? About $105,000.
To apply, Grima says he has to submit a written application and a 60-second video explaining why he’s suited for the job.
But Grima didn’t want to do much talking. He just wanted to take his audience on an adventure and he figured the jump was the way to get things rolling.
Grima was not injured. The footage didn’t turn out bad either, and on Wednesday he spent his time in between classes at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution fielding media calls, he said.
Now he has some more material he hopes impresses his recruiters.
“It’ll be something that I can throw in the application,” he said.
~ana_ceron@pbpost.com
Tags: Australia, Christopher Grima, Coast Guard, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fort Pierce police, Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island, job application, South Causeway Bridge
Subscribe to TCoastTalk's RSS Feed
Browse the photo galleries here
February 24th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
What an idiot!!! I wouldn’t hire or watch him as island caretaker…he’s a danger to himself and could be to others as well. Dumbass!
May 18th, 2009 at 11:25 am
[...] events raised the competition’s publicity; one that springs to mind is the application of Christopher Grima, a 25 year old student who jumped off the south causeway bridge in Florida to make his video stand [...]