00:00It started out as another routine morning for a New York helicopter traffic reporter,
00:04but he had more to tell his radio listeners than how the traffic was on the West Side Highway.
00:10I'll tell you what, I have a very queasy feeling in my stomach right now
00:14because I'm at, let's see, 1,500 feet.
00:18And up here at 1,500 feet or in that area,
00:21there is somebody out there in a tightrope walk
00:24between the two towers of the World Trade Center, right at the tippy top.
00:28That somebody was Philippe Petit, a 24-year-old Frenchman,
00:32doing his higher wire act 1,350 feet up and no net below.
00:37He and some associates managed to hide out in the World Trade Center towers overnight
00:42and early this morning rigged a 140-foot steel cable between the two buildings
00:47using some sort of crossbow device.
00:50Petit enthralled hundreds of people below, prancing about for more than an hour.
00:54But police in the audience decided Petit was better off in a police station,
00:59handcuffed securely to a chair.
01:01Why did you do this?
01:02That's the thousand why in this morning.
01:04There is no why.
01:05Just because when I see a beautiful place to put my wire, I cannot resist.
01:11Sergeant Charles Daniels, who talked Petit off the high wire,
01:14called it a first-rate performance.
01:16He was bouncing up and down.
01:19His feet were actually leaving the wire.
01:21And then he would resettle back on the wire again.
01:24And then he would go down on one knee.
01:27And he had balanced his hand pole
01:30and lay down on his back and put his hands behind his neck
01:34and just completely relax and swing one of his legs over the wire
01:39in a carefree manner.
01:41Was he laughing and smiling?
01:43Well, not when he would do that.
01:45He would just lay there and relax
01:46as if he wanted to just take a little nap.
01:49As spectacular sights go, how would you rate this one?
01:52Supreme.
01:53The apex of excitement.
01:55Petit was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass
01:59and received a quick sentence,
02:00doing a free show for children in Central Park.
02:03Chris Kelly, CBS News, New York.
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