2 arrested after 3 parachute from S.F. tower

Two men were arrested in San Francisco after police officers witnessed them parachuting off the 46-story Hilton hotel near Union Square and landing near the Tenderloin Police Station, officials said Wednesday.

A woman who also parachuted Tuesday night from the tower at 333 O’Farrell St. got away and remained at large Wednesday.

The three daredevils leaped off the building about 11:35 p.m. and landed around the 300 block of Jones Street near the Tenderloin Police Station, said Officer Giselle Talkoff with the San Francisco Police Department.

“The suspects had jumped from the roof of a building within close proximity to where the officers observed them landing,” Talkoff said.

The two men, ages 25 and 26, were arrested upon landing, and one woman fled the area, Talkoff said. Officers recovered both suspects’ parachutes.

The area near the Tenderloin Police Station was abuzz Wednesday, and though many people in the area missed the action from the night before, they were shocked that people would go to such lengths for a thrill.

“That’s crazy, oh my gosh. Having the audacity ... it’s got to be really risky and crazy to do something like that,” said Mark Dandan, a 34-yearold San Bruno resident who was walking to work near Eddy and Jones streets.

Lamont Marshall, a 60-year-old San Francisco resident, said he had a “deathly fear of heights,” but would have wanted to see the three people who glided from the sky.

“That would’ve been something to see,” Marshall said as he looked up at the Hilton tower from Jones and Ellis streets.

Talkoff said she couldn’t recall whether there had been a past incident of people parachuting from San Frnacisco buildings.

“Nothing comes to mind,” Talkoff said. “We don’t get too many people jumping off buildings.”

The two suspects, both San Francisco residents whose names were not immediately released, were booked into San Francisco County Jail on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and conspiracy. There were no injuries. Security officials at the Hilton hotel declined to comment on the incident.