this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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Mildly Interesting

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The Seattle Police Department is searching for two men who climbed over the glass wall of the city’s iconic Space Needle on Friday, flipped over the edge and parachuted down from the 605-foot structure.

The jumpers face trespassing charges, according to a report provided by Public Affairs Officer Brian Pritchard.

The BASE jumpers purchased tickets and entered the Space Needle at about 8:50 p.m. Friday, according to the Seattle Police Department. The popular attraction has a round observation deck surrounded by high glass windows that are open to the sky above.

They were seen on camera at the top level of the Needle then went into a restroom, coming out with helmets on, according to police.

They ran to the glass window, climbed over to the other side, and jumped off, according to police.

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[–] giacomo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 67 points 3 months ago (1 children)

i hate it when trespassers buy tickets.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 35 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Not a lawyer, but I'm guessing the trespassing applies when they opted to enter restricted areas of the facility, or maybe the air around it.

[–] EggInDisguise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 months ago (4 children)

"I had no way of knowing I wasn't permitted to climb over the glass, there was no sign and nobody told us not to" is a perfectly valid defence, IMO. Whether it "should be common sense" or not is irrelevant.

You can't claim someone has trespassed when all they did was just choose an alternate route back to ground level, much less an alternate route that did not say "don't take this route".

[–] doughless@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Courts frequently use the standard of whether a "reasonable person would have known" something. They might try to play dumb, but it almost definitely wouldn't work as a defense. Trespassing laws don't require signage, a clear structural barrier is enough.

[–] SillyDude@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This is state by state. Where I live singage is explicitly required. Every 50ft.

Private property can trespass anyone at anytime for any reason though. That applies everywhere. Trying to get them for criminal trespass is a waste of time. What the police would like to know is exactly who they are and to trespass them from there, in just to get their records going.

[–] doughless@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

Yes, laws do vary by state, but those signage laws typically apply to open land, not internal buildings/structures. A store doesn't need signage to prevent you from hopping over the counter to where the register is.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

But you do not need them on your house, even if you have your windows open.

[–] Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

As a reasonable person I think it was an awesome idea, and in fact think they should open this up to everyone that can base jump say every month or so.

[–] piskertariot@lemmy.world 7 points 3 months ago

They took the same route they would have, had the building not been there.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I agree. Best they can do is say "don't so it again, you're not allowed here anymore". No signage or prior warnings means no charges.

[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

My understanding is, you aren’t “trespassing” in publicly accessible areas, until you’ve been told to leave and refused^*^

^*^^Of^ ^course^ ^it^ ^varies^ ^from^ ^jurisdiction^ ^to^ ^jurisdiction,^ ^but^ ^generally^ ^in^ ^the^ ^U.S.^

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The fuck is with all those carets?

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Your client isn't rendering the markdown correctly, carets are how you make superscript (or smaller) text.

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 1 points 2 months ago

Ah. I'm just on mbin on Firefox.

[–] lol_idk@piefed.social 50 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I can think of better things the police could be doing

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago (1 children)

On that we agree.

I understand in concept why it's important to go after base jumpers, but there's almost certainly bigger fish to fry. Police are fucking lazy.

[–] loutr@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago

They say they're searching but I bet they're not doing shit. Nobody got hurt and, as you say, they're fucking lazy.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's Seattle cops, we should be grateful they're doing anything

[–] lol_idk@piefed.social 13 points 3 months ago

Well I think doing nothing is better than most of what they do. Just doing nothing night not hurt anyone

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Looks like a few other people implemented a better thing for them to do.

[–] ReverendIrreverence@piefed.social 39 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Another unbalanced and inordinate waste of taxpayer dollars. Spending 10's of thousands of dollars to try and write 2 trespassing tickets is fucking stupid. They did it. They got away. They didn't hurt themselves or anyone else. Now go have some donuts and shut the fuck up piggies.

[–] Malyca@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

This is Seattle pd we're talking about

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 38 points 3 months ago (2 children)

They won't let it go because it was a public display. It's not about safety, it's about exerting control.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

In part, yes.

Still, I can understand why it's necessary to dissuade others from trying. These sorts of stunts can fail and cause problems for other people, after all. (Particularly in an urban environment.)

But if someone wants to jump off the side of a mountain and maybe get only themselves killed, I'm all for it. Have fun out there.

[–] WoodScientist@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

But if someone wants to jump off the side of a mountain and maybe get only themselves killed, I’m all for it. Have fun out there.

I find your lack of concern for the life of Sasquatch deeply offensive. 🤣

OTOH, us scientifically proving Bigfoot is real because a BASE jumper leapt off a mountain, had their parachute fail, and just happened to land on a Sasquatch, killing them both? That would be one Hell of a timeline. Though really, wouldn't such an absurd thing be just perfect? Certainly better than someone just finding a dead one randomly one day.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Coyote vs Amce is already done filming. I don't think that joke made the cut though.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

You're not wrong. :)

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

I mean, yes - fuck SPD - but at the same time this is wildly reckless and should absolutely be punished. The area under the space needle is an extremely high traffic area; if this had gone wrong they could have so easily killed people.

[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah but it's over. So what's the point.

Really the only thing to do is figure out how to stop the next person from doing it.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's a wild legal defense. The crime is over officer, you should stop the next guy, not me.

[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 months ago

That's not a legal defense. I don't know why you would think it would be.

What would you have them do? Sit in jail awhile or something? Not very helpful in the long run.

The issue is public safety. So you have to consider what to do that detours the next one. Wasting time trying to track them down isn't going to do that.

They didn't hurt themselves or anyone else...mom

[–] _deleted_@aussie.zone 15 points 2 months ago

All they have to do is wait. They’ll come down eventually.

[–] DScratch@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Check for whoever played the Rivoli that night.

[–] fiendishplan@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I came here for this reference glad I found it.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

Shame it's at the bottom. That movie was my number 1 last year, and that's as someone who never heard of them prior.

[–] TIEPilot@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago
[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie obviously.

[–] CultLeader4Hire@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

But have we seen their show?? Did it work???

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 5 points 2 months ago

Now we wait for the jumpers' GoPro footage to be posted.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 2 months ago

So they can give them high-fives?

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

Oh no! Trespassing!

[–] CkrnkFrnchMn@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

Just Do It...

[–] fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't they have anything better to do?

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

They do now. There was a mass shooting there yesterday.