Skydiving Tragedy: 'He Hit the Roof Pretty Hard'

Unidentified man killed after crashing into home in Perris, Calif.
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2018 8:07 AM CST
Skydiver Dies After Crashing Into Calif. Home
Sad.   (Getty Images/ti-ja)

A skydiver was killed after he slammed into the roof of a California home Monday afternoon after it appeared his main parachute didn't open, KABC reports. "He hit the roof pretty hard," a witness says, adding that the unidentified man's orange emergency chute, which didn't appear to soften the impact, had opened up right before the apparently unconscious skydiver fell onto the Perris residence. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, and firefighters and other emergency responders who answered the call around 3pm removed his body on a stretcher with the help of a ladder firetruck. Though a Riverside County Sheriff's Department rep tells the Los Angeles Times that other details on the fall were sparse, NBC Los Angeles reports the plane the skydiver jumped from appeared to be from a skydiving school at nearby Perris Valley Airport.

Reuters notes Perris is a hot spot for skydiving, with NBC adding that there've been three local parachuting deaths over the past five years. However, the Times notes that skydiving fatalities overall are rare: Out of 3.2 million jumps in 2016, a total of 21 people died, per the United States Parachute Association. A woman who was inside the Perris home was in disbelief over the accident. "I was like, no, this can't be happening," Christina Blanco tells KABC. "And then it took so long for us to find out if he was OK or not, just waiting. My heart just dropped when they were like, no, he's not OK." There were no other reported injuries. (A Florida skydiver sent his wife a "disturbing" video before his fatal jump.)

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