A group of thrill-seekers landed themselves in hot water with San Diego police when they were caught jumping off the Coronado Bridge, deploying parachutes during their 200-foot descent into the bay.
According to Lt. Scott Wahl with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD), the wild stunt happened just before 11 p.m. Wednesday on San Diego’s famous Coronado Bridge located approximately six miles from downtown.
At around 10:45 p.m., officers were called out to the bridge to investigate reports of a possibly suicidal person. Lt. Wahl said SDPD officers searched the area in patrol cars while San Diego Harbor Police searched the water below the bridge.
Just then, an officer driving along the bridge saw a car stop in front of him. Four men exited the vehicle and then proceeded to jump off the bridge, Lt. Wahl said.
Puzzled, the officer got out of his car and witnessed the men deploy parachutes on their way down into the water.
Officials said there was a boat waiting in the water for the men that appeared to be part of the stunt.
Harbor Police officers ended up pulling the jumpers out of the water and cited the driver of the boat for speeding in a no wake zone, officials said.
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The SDPD also cited the driver of the car that dropped off the group for illegally stopping on the busy bridge.
The four thrill-seekers were not immediately cited, Lt. Wahl said, because investigators are still reviewing which section of the law would be most appropriate to cite them under. Police did say the men would likely be cited with a misdemeanor for the stunt.
The names of the men were not released. The police department said one of the four may have been in the Navy, but the others were civilians.
The SDPD said it’s taking this incident seriously and don’t want other thrill-seekers to be encouraged to pull a similar stunt. Police stressed that there are consequences – including citations – for jumping off the bridge.
