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The Seattle Police Department is searching for two men who climbed over the glass wall of the city’s iconic Space Needle on Friday, flipped over the edge and parachuted down from the 605-foot structure.

The jumpers face trespassing charges, according to a report provided by Public Affairs Officer Brian Pritchard.

The BASE jumpers purchased tickets and entered the Space Needle at about 8:50 p.m. Friday, according to the Seattle Police Department. The popular attraction has a round observation deck surrounded by high glass windows that are open to the sky above.

They were seen on camera at the top level of the Needle then went into a restroom, coming out with helmets on, according to police.

They ran to the glass window, climbed over to the other side, and jumped off, according to police.

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[-] lyrial@anarchist.nexus 2 points 10 hours ago

Aren't parachutes a pretty conspicuous piece of equipment? I would have thought that staff would know to look for them. I might be ignorant here though.

The ones I've worn look like this:

That's not a skydiving chute, it's an emergency escape chute, worn by aerobatic and test pilots in case they need to walk back to the airport. I'll never forget the first time I wore one, it was during spin lessons during instructor training. In shockingly few words this guy explained to me how to fly and land the tightly folded aircraft strapped to my back. The large silver handle here on this shoulder strap, pull it all the way out to deploy, look up, grab the loops, pull them down to your ears, pull left to go left pull right to go right, as you come in to land pull all the way down. I asked "Okay, how do you deploy the reserve chute?" He said "That IS the reserve chute. Plan A is landing the plane."

You wouldn't mistake it for a school backpack. It's not something you could easily hide under clothing without looking really strange.

[-] lyrial@anarchist.nexus 1 points 9 hours ago

Yeah, that's what is weird about it. They were not stopped immediately on entry, which is confusing to me. Someone really failed to do their job here.

[-] _deleted_@aussie.zone 14 points 17 hours ago

All they have to do is wait. They’ll come down eventually.

[-] discocactus@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago

Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie obviously.

[-] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

But have we seen their show?? Did it work???

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 12 hours ago

So they can give them high-fives?

[-] ReverendIrreverence@piefed.social 31 points 22 hours ago

Another unbalanced and inordinate waste of taxpayer dollars. Spending 10's of thousands of dollars to try and write 2 trespassing tickets is fucking stupid. They did it. They got away. They didn't hurt themselves or anyone else. Now go have some donuts and shut the fuck up piggies.

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 14 hours ago

This is Seattle pd we're talking about

[-] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 3 points 12 hours ago
[-] TIEPilot@lemmy.world 6 points 17 hours ago
[-] sundray@lemmus.org 5 points 17 hours ago

Now we wait for the jumpers' GoPro footage to be posted.

[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 35 points 1 day ago

They won't let it go because it was a public display. It's not about safety, it's about exerting control.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In part, yes.

Still, I can understand why it's necessary to dissuade others from trying. These sorts of stunts can fail and cause problems for other people, after all. (Particularly in an urban environment.)

But if someone wants to jump off the side of a mountain and maybe get only themselves killed, I'm all for it. Have fun out there.

[-] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

But if someone wants to jump off the side of a mountain and maybe get only themselves killed, I’m all for it. Have fun out there.

I find your lack of concern for the life of Sasquatch deeply offensive. 🤣

OTOH, us scientifically proving Bigfoot is real because a BASE jumper leapt off a mountain, had their parachute fail, and just happened to land on a Sasquatch, killing them both? That would be one Hell of a timeline. Though really, wouldn't such an absurd thing be just perfect? Certainly better than someone just finding a dead one randomly one day.

[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

Coyote vs Amce is already done filming. I don't think that joke made the cut though.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago

You're not wrong. :)

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

I mean, yes - fuck SPD - but at the same time this is wildly reckless and should absolutely be punished. The area under the space needle is an extremely high traffic area; if this had gone wrong they could have so easily killed people.

[-] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 2 points 21 hours ago

Yeah but it's over. So what's the point.

Really the only thing to do is figure out how to stop the next person from doing it.

[-] ReverendIrreverence@piefed.social 1 points 22 hours ago

They didn't hurt themselves or anyone else...mom

[-] giacomo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 1 day ago

i hate it when trespassers buy tickets.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Not a lawyer, but I'm guessing the trespassing applies when they opted to enter restricted areas of the facility, or maybe the air around it.

[-] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago

"I had no way of knowing I wasn't permitted to climb over the glass, there was no sign and nobody told us not to" is a perfectly valid defence, IMO. Whether it "should be common sense" or not is irrelevant.

You can't claim someone has trespassed when all they did was just choose an alternate route back to ground level, much less an alternate route that did not say "don't take this route".

[-] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

I agree. Best they can do is say "don't so it again, you're not allowed here anymore". No signage or prior warnings means no charges.

[-] doughless@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

Courts frequently use the standard of whether a "reasonable person would have known" something. They might try to play dumb, but it almost definitely wouldn't work as a defense. Trespassing laws don't require signage, a clear structural barrier is enough.

[-] Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

As a reasonable person I think it was an awesome idea, and in fact think they should open this up to everyone that can base jump say every month or so.

[-] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 day ago

This is state by state. Where I live singage is explicitly required. Every 50ft.

Private property can trespass anyone at anytime for any reason though. That applies everywhere. Trying to get them for criminal trespass is a waste of time. What the police would like to know is exactly who they are and to trespass them from there, in just to get their records going.

[-] doughless@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Yes, laws do vary by state, but those signage laws typically apply to open land, not internal buildings/structures. A store doesn't need signage to prevent you from hopping over the counter to where the register is.

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 0 points 23 hours ago

But you do not need them on your house, even if you have your windows open.

[-] piskertariot@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

They took the same route they would have, had the building not been there.

[-] ccunning@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

My understanding is, you aren’t “trespassing” in publicly accessible areas, until you’ve been told to leave and refused^*^

^*^^Of^ ^course^ ^it^ ^varies^ ^from^ ^jurisdiction^ ^to^ ^jurisdiction,^ ^but^ ^generally^ ^in^ ^the^ ^U.S.^

[-] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

The fuck is with all those carets?

[-] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Your client isn't rendering the markdown correctly, carets are how you make superscript (or smaller) text.

[-] lol_idk@piefed.social 47 points 1 day ago

I can think of better things the police could be doing

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Looks like a few other people implemented a better thing for them to do.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

It's Seattle cops, we should be grateful they're doing anything

[-] lol_idk@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago

Well I think doing nothing is better than most of what they do. Just doing nothing night not hurt anyone

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

On that we agree.

I understand in concept why it's important to go after base jumpers, but there's almost certainly bigger fish to fry. Police are fucking lazy.

[-] loutr@sh.itjust.works 7 points 22 hours ago

They say they're searching but I bet they're not doing shit. Nobody got hurt and, as you say, they're fucking lazy.

[-] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 day ago

Check for whoever played the Rivoli that night.

[-] fiendishplan@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago

I came here for this reference glad I found it.

[-] Obi@sopuli.xyz 2 points 21 hours ago

Shame it's at the bottom. That movie was my number 1 last year, and that's as someone who never heard of them prior.

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