When to abandon?

[guest]

Let's say you participate in a sunrise jump off a B in a larger metropolitan area. It's never been popped, but then neither has the city been either. It's a two way and a solo. The first pair go and land fine, but you get entangled in a sign or street light. You hear a siren in the backround as your buddies are running to the pickup point. Would you cut it away and cruise? Or would you stay behind and seriously risk getting pinched?
I don't mean to ask a question of ditching your buddies, but one of the price of getting caught. I've heard from a one-time jumper say some fines could reach 10's of thousands of dollars. But a seasoned jumper talks about hundred dollar fines.

I've heard highs and lows and wonder if chopping it away would be cheaper than a court appaerance.



Mike

[guest]

I think these are things to talk about before the jump. IM in the military, I cannot afford to get busted. Most often we do not talk about what to do if this happens . Have a plan no mattter and stick to it. Have fun, C YA!

Mark

[d-dog]

I am not a criminal defense attorney, and I don't even play one on TeeVee so take with a few grains of salt.

In general, I believe potential fines and/or jail time and/or criminal record from B jumps vary wildly from city to city, and country to country. I am sure there are some places in the world where you'd not want to be caught jumping some buildings - no matter what.

Like, for example, if one were to jump an under-construction federal courthouse building right next to a police station. . . I'd say getting caught would be a stunningly bad idea. They might send John Ashcroft himself (ready to anoint sinners with his container of Holy Crisco) after you for that one. Yikes!

Other places, you'd likely face a reasonable fine, some chuckles, and a slap on the proverbial wrist.

I also suspect that this spectrum has lots of inherent variability in it depending on the random circumstances of how you got busted. Does the cop have a fear of heights, and thus hate jumpers? Would she think it's pretty cool, and pretty harmless, and thus let you off with an admonition to be more careful next time? Luck of the draw.

Finally, a good attorney can make a big difference in the States. As they say, "all the justice that you can afford." I've seen good defense counsel make very nasty problems go away behind the scenes, no problem. Not cheap.

On average, personally, I'd chop the canopy. Interactions with the Po Po are always fraught with risk. They carry loaded guns, and some of them really like to use them. They have been known to "rough up" suspects, make up stories about false confessions, plant drugs to cause major problems, and if you live in NYC they might just torture you with a police baton at the station and claim the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. Yeah, I don't trust them.

On average, a canopy is worth about a thousand bucks. A good defense attorney will chew that up in a few hours. Even if you "only" get a fine, they might keep your gear anyway - so you lose your canopy AND your container and you get the fine, to boot. Finally, cops might put big pressure on you to turn in your mates - which sucks as they could really come down on you hard if you hold up, or cause you to get more folks in trouble which is lower than low.

Where we live, in the Pacific Northwest, police are generally quite friendly, reasonable, and well-behaved. It is one of the many, many nice things about this area of our country. However, even here I get cold sweats when I think about being caught by cops who might have a bad attitude towards BASE and a baggie of white powder in their pocket just waiting to be planted in someone's container. . .

Peace,

D-d0g
ddog@wrinko.com
www.wrinko.com

[kleggo]

from personal experience.
location: downtown l.a.

time: circa 1983.

situation: caught red handed by two big african american security guards with base ball bats.

charge: criminal tresspass charges reduced to simple tresspass at the hearing.

outcome: $700 in fines + 80 hours community service time. :'(

my recommendations:
1. remove or black outthe s/n of all your "disposable" gear.
2. dispose of it as necessary to avoid detainment / arrest. it will most likely be much cheaper than lawyer / court / fine monies levied against you.

stay safe

kleggo

[azbasejumper]

I was detected upon landing after leaving a nice rooftop in Phoenix by the Phoenix P.D. The cops thought it was a cool thing I did and let me go after they scared me a little . They were parked under a tree and I saw them as I was landing thinking "oh fudge". I had a snag on a sign post last year and upon hearing the sirens wail I chopped it . Everyone in my crew has the understanding that if the cops come it's every man for himself . A friend of mine was busted last year after being captured on roof cam and the cops remembered him and busted him . He spent around 15K to get out of it .

[guest]

I hope to be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the next few months. Anyone had a run in with the cops down there? I''m looking at a couple of B's on the beach.

Thanks

[base428]

Kleggo brings up a good point.

Do canopy and harness manufacturers assist the police with identification of jumpers based on the serial number stamped onto your gear? If you leave your gear behind and the police find it, will BR/CR/Vertigo/Morpheus/Paratech divulge who the owner is?

What if you've sold the gear and the next guy ditches it on a jump gone bad? I guess s/n's are probably a bad thing......

------------
Jason Bell (BASE428)
Email: jbell@vertical-visions.com
Web: www.vertical-visions.com or www.bridgeday.info

[guest]

Serial numbers on BASE gear is nessesary in case a fault is later discovered with any of the materials used to construct the rig. Having the numbers means the effected gear can be recalled and repaired.

As for giving you up to the police, I don't see this happening without a court order, and even then I'm sure (at BR anyway) this information would suddenly be very hard to find . . .

Nick
BASE 194
:P

[guest]

I aggree with everything D-Dog said. In most cases I bet the loss of a $1,000 canopy is cheaper and less of a pain in the ass than going through the ringer with the cops.
I got busted in Vegas several years ago when I was still very green and didn't know much about this sport. My partner landed and wraped his canopy around a no parking sign and couldn't get away fast enough. I could have but like a retard I took my hand off the handle of the get away car and turned to help him. Seconds later the cops showed up. We got extremely lucky. They detained us handcuffed for 4 hours and then wrote us tickets to appear in court and then let us go with all our gear. The lawyer for court only cost us $300 each in all. This I think is a rare case. If I ever get tangled with time running out I'm chopping.