MIDTOWN — It was a death-defying feat of stupidity.
A deranged man terrorized a popular West 40th Street comic shop before leaping through a plate-glass window on the second floor and falling to the sidewalk below.
The unidentified man, who witnesses said walked away from the fall, came into Midtown Comics about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and began running around the sales floor, co-owner Jerry Gladstone said.
"This guy must have been strung out on drugs," said Gladstone, who got the account from workers. "He bolted around the store and then jumped out the window."
Despite his superhuman stunt, the 24-year-old man was not dressed in red tights and did not wear a cape, Gladstone confirmed.
"He just ran around," Gladstone said. "He's was sort of on a rampage. What a strange and horrible experience. Luckily everyone is OK."
After the leap, the man could be seen with glass in his face talking to police, a witness said. He was taken to NYU Hospital for treatment, the FDNY said.
The man was later charged with assault, criminal mischief and possession of a controlled substance, police said.
Even though he's talking with police, they still don't know his name, an NYPD spokesman said Wednesday morning.
Prior to the jump, the man had gone into the Lenwich sandwich shop next door before getting kicked out.
"He was clearly doped up," said Lenwich cashier Alicia Valentine, 21 "His eyes were bloodshot red — moving around weird."
She said he had asked for the code to the locked bathroom, but when he was refused, rummaged through the garbage until he found a receipt with the code. After spending 20 minutes in the bathroom, he reemerged staggering, until employees called police and asked him to leave.
A neighborhood hookah shop clerk said that he saw the man talking to police after the jump.
"I saw glass in his face, he was leaning against a car," said Boris, 27, who declined to provide his last name. "He was chilling with the cops."
The man had apparently rammed the comic shop window twice with his shoulder before it gave way, a witness said.
Superman's trademark "S" hangs just above the window he leapt from.
"That's probably what he thought, he was Superman," Boris said. "It's normal in New York. Nothing's surprising."
