LODI, Calif. – A skydiver was killed by a truck Thursday after landing on a Northern California highway.
Witnesses told the California Highway Patrol they saw a parachute fall from the sky toward the highway near East Jahant Road.
It’s unknown if the skydiver was hit by the truck or landed on the truck, but the injuries were fatal.
Investigators told KTXL the skydiver left from the Lodi Parachute Center, which is just south of the crash site.
#BREAKING: CHP is on the scene of a fatal accident on the 99 freeway near Jahant road. Officers responded to a call of a parachute landing in the road. CHP says some witnesses say a man on a parachute landed on a truck, others say it was hit by a truck. SB 99 lanes closed @FOX40 pic.twitter.com/JUqrAuInu0
— Bridgette Bjorlo (@bridgettebjorlo) September 26, 2019
The infamous skydiving center has an extensive history of deadly accidents. Just last October, 62-year-old Nena Lowry Mason from Dillon, Colorado, fell to her death after her main parachute malfunctioned. Her death marked the 19th fatality since the center opened in the early 1980s.
After trouble in 2016, 20 center instructors were suspended and it was determined 120 more needed more training as the U.S. Parachute Association investigated.
Federal agents raided the center in 2018 and seized numerous records, including waivers and cash receipts, as well as extensive video footage, the Lodi News-Sentinel reports.
Two lanes of the highway were closed Thursday afternoon. Authorities did not immediately release the victim’s identity; it’s not yet clear how the parachutist ended up on the roadway.
