Lodi Man Rescued, Then Arrested After BASE Jumping From Foresthill Bridge
FORESTHILL (CBS13) - A Lodi man who was stuck in a pine tree for more than five hours after BASE jumping off the Foresthill Bridge in Placer County is now facing legal trouble.
Cal Fire, Placer County Fire and state parks personnel got a call shortly before 9 p.m. Monday night about a man stuck in a tree. That man has now been identified as 26-year-old Raymond Arrieta.
Arrieta was dangling 100 feet or so from the ground and above the north fork of the American River between Auburn and Foresthill.
The rescue effort was complicated because of the rugged terrain and darkness made it difficult to access via helicopter or fire truck, so a PG&E boom truck with a large ladder was requested and road had to be dug out for the truck to get to Arrieta.
"I think he's an idiot," one of the rescue workers said.
Arrieta was finally rescued around 2:15 a.m. and taken to a nearby hospital. He was later booked into the Placer County Jail and was being held on $2,000 bail for violating the county ordinance prohibiting jumping off the bridge.
Investigators say two friends were out at the scene with the jumper and one of them was detained at the scene.
"He was barely hanging on," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Brand said. "Him and and his friend was having a discussion on him releasing his harness and dropping himself to the ground, which was a 100-foot drop, which would have been not a good thing, obviously."
The bridge, which stands 731 above the riverbed, is a popular spot for BASE jumping. A Squaw Valley man needed to be rescued when his parachute got caught in a tree after he jumped off the bridge last October.
