A man has been arrested and will appear in court following two instances of base jumping in central Auckland.
Inspector Grae Anderson, Auckland City Area Commander, says around 10.42pm last night emergency services responded to reports a person was stuck by a parachute to the side of a hotel on Albert Street.
“Fire and Emergency New Zealand were able to free the man, however the building suffered damage to the exterior and guests staying at the hotel had their evening disrupted due to the event.
“In order to reach the man on the outside of the building a glass panel worth approximately $20,000 had to be smashed.”
The man was not injured and did not require medical attention.
“Enquiries established the man was allegedly the same person who filmed themselves base jumping from a different Auckland building, which was under construction, in September,” Inspector Anderson says.
“We do not condone this type of behaviour; it is reckless and poses risk to the person jumping and those on the ground.”
Inspector Anderson says he hopes this incident will make anyone else thinking of repeating these types of stunts reconsider.
“In this case the man not only needed rescuing, but paying guests to the hotel had their stay impacted and expensive damage had to be caused to facilitate that rescue.
“This is unacceptable and now instead of leaving New Zealand and carrying on with his travel plans he will stay here and face the consequences of his actions.”
A 22-year-old Belgian national will appear in the Auckland District Court on 27 October charged with burglary.
Can’t see how a burglary charge fits this event, unless there’s something else that happened.
Seems a bit odd.
So, Base Jumping now identifies as burglary. Wow that is indeed so serious 2026 thinking right there.