Parachute: Easter Egg hunt horror as skydiver plummets to death in New York garden. Credit: ABC
A family’s Easter egg hunt ended in horror when a skydiver plummeted to his death in a New York garden after his parachute failed to open.
Arkady Shenker, 49, from Brooklyn landed in the backyard of a home after the skydiving accident in southern New Jersey.
Annie Marie Dye was hosting a family Easter Egg hunt in a nearby garden in Washington Township at about 2 p.m. on Sunday.
She told ABC Action News: “I saw the jumpers. Then I noticed one and he kind of looked like he wasn’t conscious, he was just spinning.”
Dye and her family raced to help the critically injured man but another neighbor told NBC: “He put a dent in the ground that deep,” before indicating about 12 inches with his hands.
Emergency responders found Shenker in a yard in the 100 block of Tuckahoe Road.
He was taken to Kennedy Hospital but pronounced dead just after 3:30 p.m.
Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office Shenker was an experienced skydiver with more than 350 jumps; according to reports, he was wearing a “wing suit” designed to allow the parachutist to “fly” during freefall.
A spokesman added that it was currently unclear whether the specialized parachute and suit opened properly.
The Federal Aviation Administration has will investigate the cause of the accident.
Watch the report on ABC Action News
