DEATH of the Leaping Lawyer, CANADA

Trying to impress a new workmate, a lawyer runs head-on into a window on the 24th floor of his office to prove it unbreakable, a stunt he had done multiple times without any injury. Unfortunately, the window gave way and he fell to his death.

Garry Hoy (1955 – 9 July 1993) was a lawyer for the law firm of Holden Day Wilson in Toronto. He is best known for the circumstances of his death; in an attempt to prove to a group of his partners at the firm that the glass in the Toronto-Dominion Centre was unbreakable, he threw himself through a glass wall on the 24th story and fell to his death after the window frame gave way. He had apparently performed this stunt many times in the past, having previously bounced harmlessly off the glass.

The event occurred in a small boardroom adjacent to a boardroom where a reception was being held for new articling students. Mr. Hoy was a noted and respected corporate and securities law specialist in Toronto. He was a professional engineer, having completed his engineering degree before studying law. He was a highly respected philanthropic member of the Toronto Asian community. In the words of Toronto Police Service Detective Mike Stowell: "

At this Friday night party, Mr. Hoy did it again and bounced off the glass the first time. However, he did it a second time and this time crashed right through the middle of the glass." In another interview, the firm's spokesman mentioned that the glass in fact did not break, but popped out of its frame, leading to Hoy's fatal plunge. Hoy's death contributed to the closing of Holden Day Wilson in 1996, at the time the largest law firm closure in Canada.

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