The skydiver who was killed on Monday after landing on the roof of a home in the city of Perris in Riverside County, California , has been identified as 27-year-old Aime-Jean St. Hilaire-Adam
The skydiver who was killed on Monday after landing on the roof of a home in the city of Perris in Riverside County, California, has been identified as 27-year-old Aime-Jean St. Hilaire-Adam.
The wingsuit diver was racing another jumper in midair when he collided, rendering him unconscious and leaving him unable to pull the rip-cord on his chute.
The collision sent St. Hilaire-Adam plummeting straight to the ground at more than a hundred miles an hour.
There was little chance for his parachute or reserve chute to be deployed before he slammed into the the roof of a house in the town, 70 miles east of Los Angeles.
The skydiver was from Canada and was one of the best elite jumpers in the world with more than a thousand successful jumps under his belt when the freak accident event occurred.
St. Hilaire-Adam came to Perris for an international competition that involved wingsuit racing.
St. Hilaire-Adam was from Canada and was one of the best elite jumpers in the world with more than a thousand successful jumps under his belt when the freak accident event occurred
The parachutist had collided with a fellow jumper knocking him unconscious before he slammed into the roof
Residents witnessed the tragic accident as the man plummeted into the roof at more than a hundred miles per hour
The impact was so loud it was heard by a mother and daughter who were in the home at the time of the tragic event. They went outside to see what had happened but were not prepared for what they saw.
‘It’s just overwhelming. I am going to have dinner but somebody just passed away on my roof! How do you move on from here?’ said Ela Cena Blanco trying to hold back tears as she spoke with KCAL9/CBS2.
Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Vasquez said he did not know what caused the fall, which skydiving center oversaw the jump or from what altitude St. Hilaire-Adam had jumped
‘I feel for his mom and his dad, his brothers and sisters – and I don’t even know him. I pray that he was with God.’ she continued.
Her 20-year-old daughter Christina also heard St. Hilaire-Adam crash into their rooftop and was shaken up by what happened.
‘I was in my room and heard a really loud noise like and earthquake. I was in complete shock. He just passed away on top of our home. I was like, no, this can’t be happening!’ she said in a state of disbelief.
‘You know he went out to do something fun with his friends and it ended just like that!’ she said.
Elicena Blanco, 47, and her daughter, Christina, 20, were both shaken up at the freak accident which occurred when they were both inside their home getting ready for dinner
Across the road Ali Mahassan saw the crash with his own eyes and was also disturbed by what he saw.
‘He hit that house hard. He was unconscious before he hit the home. He came down vertically and his head was down and his arms were rocking back and forth once he hit.’
Riverside County Firefighters along with Cal Fire were on the scene quickly according to CBS Los Angeles.
The home is coincidentally less than a mile away from the so-called California ‘house of horrors’, where Louise and David Turpin kept captive, starved and tortured their 13 children.
According to officials, the first arriving engine company were met with the gruesome sight of the dead jumper’s body which was lying on the roof.
The home is coincidentally less than a mile away from the so-called California ‘house of horrors’, where Louise and David Turpin kept captive, starved and tortured their 13 children
Police were on scene quickly to try and establish the cause of the accident
Paramedics raced to the scene in the hope of saving the man’s life, but there was no hope
Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Vasquez said he did not know what caused the fall, which skydiving center oversaw the jump or from what altitude the man had jumped.
The Sheriff’s Department reported the death to the National Transportation Safety Board for investigation, Vasquez said.
Skydiving deaths are rare. In 2016, the United States Parachute Association recorded 21 fatal skydiving accidents in the country out of roughly 3.2 million jumps, according to its website.