Parachuter Crashes Into Kitchen of Calif. House and Survives Without Serious Injury: 'A Miracle'
A man in California escaped without serious injury after his parachute failed to open and he crashed through the roof and into the kitchen of a local home.
Atascadero Emergency Dispatch received word on Tuesday just before 5 p.m. that a parachuter had fallen "without a full chute deployment," the Atascadero Police Department said in a press release.
The local fire and police departments responded to the scene, and found that he had fallen through the interior and exterior roof of a house.
"[He] came through the roof, through the trusses," Linda Sallady, the homeowner's mother, told NBC/CW affiliate KSBY. "There's not that much damage in the house, it's amazing. It's mostly the ceiling, the sheetrock. He missed the counters, appliances, everything."
Though police said the man was "stunned with complaints of pain," he stayed conscious throughout the incident and had no visible serious injuries, the release said.
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No one else was injured, as the homeowners were not home at the time.
"We saw it from my friend's yard — was very unnerving," a witness wrote on Facebook. "He's a lucky man, that's for sure."
Rose Martin, a registered nurse who lives next door, told KSBY that she rushed to the scene to see if she could help.
"I was in shock. I'm like, what?" she recalled. "I ran in to make sure he was okay and I checked on him and his eyes were open, but I wasn't sure if there were any injuries. I didn't want anyone to move him."
Police said an investigation found that the man was part of a group training at Camp Roberts, a California National Guard post, and that his parachute failed to fully deploy.
Jonathan Shiroma, a spokesman for Camp Roberts, said the man is a member of a British military unit, Tribune News Service reported.
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"This was the only incident involved and all others participating in the jump landed safely at the designated landing field," police said in the release. "We are grateful that the parachutist received only moderate injuries and that no other persons suffered injury."
The man was transported to the hospital, police said, and his condition remains unclear.
"It's a miracle, in my estimation," Martin told KSBY. "Really. I mean, who lands like that without a parachute and lives?"
