Crime & Safety

Four Parachute Out of Hot Air Balloon and Into Police Investigation

A CHP officer's investigation of a Caltrans vehicle burglary west of Santa Rosa was interrupted from above.

Four people jumping from a hot air balloon interrupted a California Highway Patrol officer's investigation of a Caltrans vehicle burglary this morning west of Santa Rosa.

The officer was at the Caltrans yard on Occidental Road near Fulton Road around 8:30 a.m., CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.

The officer saw someone descending with a parachute just north of state Highway 12 near Merced Avenue and a hot air balloon at a higher altitude, Sloat said. Three more people then parachuted from the balloon basket and the balloon drifted west toward Sebastopol, Sloat said.

Two more CHP officers responded and found one of the jumpers, Jonathan Entin, 46, of Bend, Ore. on private property 100 feet north of Highway 12, Sloat said.

Entin told the officers he did not know the name of the balloon company, Sloat said. Witnesses who stopped at the scene said they saw the three other jumpers running through a field.

Entin was not arrested because the responding officers were not sure what laws if any were broken, Sloat said.

Sloat said it is legal to jump from a hot air balloon if the jumper has a back-up chute and a designated and secure landing zone.

Copyright © 2014 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.