Charges against three BASE jumpers are dismissed

Last update: May 7, 2008 - 11:41 PM

Charges of trespassing were dismissed Wednesday against three men arrested last week for allegedly attempting to parachute from the top of a northeast Minneapolis condominium.

Citing insufficient evidence, prosecutors dropped charges alleging that Joseph Johnson, Eric Lunder and Byron Stuart trespassed at the 28-story Pinnacle Tower at 20 2nd St. NE on April 30 with intentions of jumping from the top, said the men's attorney, Brian Toder.

Court documents show trespassing charges against each man were dismissed Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court.

The men are avid skydivers and BASE-jumpers, an activity involving jumping from fixed objects (and an acronym for building, antenna, span, earth).

Toder said the three were charged only with trespassing, which was without merit because they were let into the building by a friend. Police also confiscated parachutes and lock-picking tools, but Toder said one of the men is a locksmith.

Johnson said last week that the three weren't intending to jump at the time of their 3 a.m. arrest but were visiting a friend. He admitted they had jumped earlier that night.

"I'm certainly not going to say that they weren't trying to BASE-jump, it's pretty obvious that they were and God knows what would have happened if they were," Toder said. "These guys aren't kooks, they're very serious about what they do. They're very meticulous."

Johnson, 36, is a skydiving instructor and founder of Fall Free, an organization that takes at-risk kids on tandem skydiving jumps. He said he has BASE-jumped from as low as 170 feet and as high as 1,200 feet.

ABBY SIMONS

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