Man Paragliding In Keansburg Falls Into Electrical Wires

KEANSBURG, NJ — A man was seriously injured in a paragliding accident Sunday afternoon in Keansburg, when the wind pushed him into electric wires and he fell 30 feet, said a local official in that town.

This occurred on Belleview Avenue in Keansburg.

The man was operating paragliding equipment that had a motor in the back, said Tom Foley, the Keansburg deputy mayor. He said he and others have seen the same man, or at least a man using the exact same type of paragliding gear, on recent spring days along the beach in Keansburg.

"For whatever reason, we think a wind gust pushed him off the beach yesterday and the wind pushed him down into some power lines," he said. "He landed on the power lines and it is my understanding he did get some kind of electrical shock."

Keansburg Chief of Police Sheehan said there is nothing in hospital records to indicate the man was electrocuted.

They both said the man then fell from the power lines onto the sidewalk below, a height of 25-30 feet. A passersby called 911 and the man was taken by helicopter to Jersey Shore Medical Center, the nearest trauma unit.

The man is identified as a 24-year-old man from Spring Valley, NY and this was the first paragliding flight he took on his own, said Chief Sheehan.

The man is still alive Monday, but in critical, stable condition, said Sheehan.

On Facebook, Keansburg residents recounted rushing to the scene on Belleview Ave. when they saw him dropping out of the sky, and people recalled seeing him fall from the power lines. When officers got to him on the sidewalk, he was unconscious, breathing but with a weak pulse, said the police chief.

"He was only in flight for like three to four minutes," said one Keansburg resident who lives on Bayview Avenue and said she "watches the paragliders all the time" from her front porch.

She thinks he took off from Apple Jack's parking lot, not the beach.

"I saw him pass the houses," she said. "He never had control from the beginning. I even said to my husband, 'He's rocking too much; the winds are bad.' And then I saw him fall and heard the crash. It looked like from the start he never had control over it. The winds were too bad."

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