AUBURN - When the Placer County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a possibly suicidal woman attempting to jump from the Foresthill bridge in Auburn, they and California State Park rangers responded to investigate. It was Sunday, July 15, 2018 at around 9:20 p.m. Deputies checked the bridge from above and rangers checked from below.
Seeing no one on the bridge, deputies checked the catwalk area below where they witnessed a group of people with parachutes jump. At that point deputies contacted the State Park rangers below. A deputy relayed the location of three of the jumpers to the rangers, and he lit them up with his flashlight during their entire descent. Once the jumpers landed, they ran from the ranger who followed them with lights and sirens in his patrol truck. State Parks rangers detained all three men.
Arrested were:
- Christopher W. Ludlow, 27, of Sacramento,
- Christopher T. Peterson, 30, of Davis,
- and Michael King, 29, of South Lake Tahoe.
They were booked at the Placer County Jail in Auburn and charged with resisting arrest and trespassing on the Foresthill Bridge catwalk, both misdemeanors. The remaining jumpers were able to get away. The Foresthill bridge is the highest bridge in California.
“Great job by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and California State Park rangers,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona. “When law enforcement agencies work together, suspects are apprehended, booked and charged. State park rangers know the terrain and can greatly assist local law enforcement officers in cases such as this one.”
