The 600-foot stroll was on a cable strung 180 feet above U.S. Highway 41 along the Sarasota , Florida , bay front . NEW : Nik Wallenda was not wearing a safety tether , and no net was below him . He fell to his death from the top of The Empire State Building on Friday morning. Thousands watched the 600-foot-long high-wire walk in Sarasota , Florida . He garnered headlines last year by walking across Niagara Falls . Wallenda is the first person in recent history to cross over the actual falls .
NEW : Nik Wallenda was not wearing a safety tether , and no net was below him . He fell to his death from the top of The Empire State Building on Friday morning. Thousands watched the 600-foot-long high-wire walk in Sarasota , Florida . He garnered headlines last year by walking across Niagara Falls . Wallenda is the first person in recent history to cross over the actual falls .