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View Full Version : Video shows BASE jumps off LDS Church Office Building



accadacca
04-20-2011, 10:12 AM
http://vimeo.com/20625607

KSL.com

SALT LAKE CITY — A video posted online shows two men jumping off the LDS Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City.

It was posted two months ago but gained attention this week after one of the men spoke out about the Nov. 12 stunt.

The video shows Hartman Rector and Marshall Miller jumping 420 feet from the 26th floor observation deck of the 28-story church building and landing in a parking lot across North Temple before a waiting SUV whisks them away.

Rector, 28, and Miller, 32, were both cited for infractions. Rector pleaded guilty last week to disturbing the peace in Salt Lake City Justice Court, while a trespassing citation was dropped. He was ordered to pay $300, was forbidden from returning to the LDS Church Office Building and was given six months of probation.

Miller pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing in March and received the same sentence.

BASE stands for buildings, antennae, spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs), the locations from which thrill-seekers jump in what some consider the ultimate extreme sport.

Miller told KSL that he and Rector saw the Church Office Building as an unavoidably tempting target for BASE jumpers, but the building's security made it impossible to access the high-rise after hours. So the duo went on a tour of the building's observation deck to plan the logistics of a jump, devising a way to scale a security fence without damaging it and get to a ledge where they could make a clean jump.

On a separate trip, they returned to execute their plan, strapping on concealed parachutes in a men's restroom and then pulling off the mid-afternoon jump. Miller said they planned the jump at a time when the parking lot across the street would be empty.

Miller videotaped the entire episode with a helmet cam while the driver of their getaway vehicle filmed the jumps from inside his SUV. Rector jumped first, then Miller followed, doing a "nice little flip" off the edge of the building.

Miller said he was surprised the jump upset church security, and he bristled at the amount of the fines prosecutors levied against him and Rector. He originally tried to sell the video of the jump to offset his court costs but is now making it available in its entirety online free.

Miller said he would not be using the Church Office Building again for a BASE jump.

Email:sfidel@ksl.com
Article: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15223350

DiscGo
04-20-2011, 12:22 PM
I felt like the music added a fun mischievous soundtrack to their caper :)

bbennett
04-20-2011, 07:13 PM
Cool video! I think it's a pretty victimless crime, but I'm sure JP will disagree :lol8:

BruteForce
04-20-2011, 08:14 PM
Sweet! Good on them.

Don
04-20-2011, 09:09 PM
Yeah, not a sport I would try but I approve of harmless mischief. Glad they pulled it off. :2thumbs:

Scott Card
04-20-2011, 09:14 PM
Pulled it off kinda.. they were caught and cited and ultimately fined I think $500? each

accadacca
04-20-2011, 09:25 PM
$300. Worth it I think.

Scott Card
04-20-2011, 09:33 PM
Thanks. I couldn't remember

DiscGo
04-21-2011, 07:40 AM
Could you imagine how much bad press the LDS church would get if they started offering to allow people to base jump off the Church Office Building for $300? On a side note, I have been tempted before to scale the Eagle Gate. I wonder how much that would cost me.

Iceaxe
04-21-2011, 08:15 AM
I've followed this case with some interest. The $300 fine was basically a way for everyone to save face and end the deal. If the young men had competent lawyers and endless legal funds I think they could have walked away with no penalty as there is no law against BASE jumping in Utah.

And Scott, shame on you... as a lawyer you know dang well that that paying a fine has almost ZERO to do with guilt or innocence. A lot of time its just the easy/smart thing to do.

Best of all.... posting the video was nothing more than the BASE jumpers giving those they offended and attempted to procecute them the finger.


http://www.ussschenectadylst1185.org/media/LastGreatActOfDefiance-1.gif

Brian in SLC
04-21-2011, 09:00 AM
I've followed this case with some interest.

Yeah, me too. I've ridden in that getaway car...ha ha. I climb with Marshall's dad. Ever heard of the ice climb, "Miller's Thriller"? Chip off the ol' block. Too funny.

Was interesting to see how this was going to play out, given that someone's grandpa is this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartman_Rector


Anyhoo, pretty funny stuff. Can't believe he unlocked that video. I saw it quite a long time ago when it wasn't public. Still can't believe he did a back flip... The stuff he's done is frightening.

Scott Card
04-21-2011, 09:20 AM
And Scott, shame on you... as a lawyer you know dang well that that paying a fine has almost ZERO to do with guilt or innocence. A lot of time its just the easy/smart thing to do.

Shame on me for what? What I said was accurate and without any agenda. I am not trying to protect anyone or any entity. Yes, they successfully jumped and no one was hurt. Nice job. But, to not have been caught and to not have paid a fine would have been a bigger feather in a BASE jumpers cap I would imagine. That is all I am saying. To rob a bank is to pull it off but then to get caught is, well, kinda crapy if you are a bank robber.

And yes, people enter into plea bargains all the time. A risk/reward or a cost/benefit analysis is always done on cases. Yes some times people pay the court just to end the mess when an expensive trial could have acquited them.