I'm glad you brought that up because I decided to learn more. Apparently it wasn't the glass that broke, rather the frame gave way and the intact glass fell out, along with Garry Hoy. (probably from his repeated bouncing off of it
)
The glass did not break when he hit it, but the window frame gave way and he fell to his death.[1]
He had apparently performed this stunt many times in the past, having previously bounced harmlessly off the glass. After one attempt which saw the glass hold up, Hoy tried once more. In this instance, the force of Hoy slamming into the window removed the window from its frame, causing the entire intact window and Hoy to fall from the building. This act of autodefenestration occurred in a small conference room adjacent to a boardroom where a reception was being held for new articling students.
Structural engineer Bob Greer was quoted by the Toronto Star as saying "I don’t know of any building code in the world that would allow a 160-pound (72.5 kg) man to run up against a glass and withstand it."[3] 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 (He was a partner) in 1996, which at the time was the largest law firm closure in Canada.[4]
(might have ended up closing anyway btw).
On the Snopes page regarding Hoy's demise, the death was referred to as “accidental self-defenestration” (rated TRUE btw lol) they put up a false pic of a man flying out of a broken window, but who's counting (Snopes accuracy). They also quote:
Peter Lauwers, managing partner of the firm Holden Day Wilson, told the Toronto Sun newspaper that Hoy was “one of the best and brightest” members of the 200-man association.
I've yet to discover what the 200-Man Association is or what might have happened to them.
Trivia I learned:
'Autodenestration' in History
Depiction, Prague 1618
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration "...the act of defenestration connotes the forcible or peremptory removal of an adversary..." by throwing them out the window.
Defenestration (from Modern Latin fenestra[1]) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.[2] The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the Thirty Years' War. This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's City Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), which also on that occasion led to the Hussite war.[3] The word comes from the New Latin[4] de- (down from) and fenestra (window or opening).[5] Likewise, it can also refer to the condition of being thrown out of a window, as in "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch".[6]
Supposedly unbreakable. I bet his mind was too theoretical.