Two men who became the eighth and ninth people to survive a ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel said they did it to show kids there are better things to do than drugs.
"It felt like a roller coaster ride, falling straight down," Jeffrey Petkovich said afterward. "But with a roller coaster ride, you come to a minor stop. You feel it, but not as much as we did."Petkovich, 25, of Ottawa, and Peter DeBernardi, 42, of Niagara Falls, Ontario, rode a 10-foot metal container lined with foam over the 176-foot-high Horseshoe Falls on Wednesday to become the first pair ever to go over together in the same barrel.
Similar plunges over the falls have claimed three lives.
"We wanted to show these kids there's a lot better things for kids to do than be on the brink of dope," DeBernardi said.
The two suffered minor cuts and scrapes, said Constable David Jahns of Niagara Parks Police.
Jahns said DeBernardi and Petkovich entered the Niagara River about 100 yards from the brink of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border at about 5:30 p.m. They were rescued at the bottom by park police, but the barrel was still in the water and was to be recovered Thursday, he said.
Both men were charged with unlawfully performing a stunt in the park. DeBernardi, who had been saying for 18 months he would perform the stunt, also was charged with engaging in a prohibitive activity in the park, Jahns said.
The men were released pending an Oct. 26 appearance in Provincial Offenses Court in Niagara Falls, Jahns said.
The metal barrel, lined with foam on the inside, was about 10 feet long and 4 to 5 feet high, Jahns said.