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Hang Glider Leads Police On A Very Slow Aerial Chase
A hang glider led police on a very slow-moving chase over a jail yesterday evening.
At about 5:30 p.m., a power glider was drifting near the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. Police became worried that the glider's pilot wasn’t just out for a airborne joyride, but may have been trying to drop contraband into the jail yard for inmates. An L.A. County Sheriff’s Department helicopter was called to the scene, the L.A. Times reports.
The glider pursuit—which we can only imagine as pretty calm and kind of dreamy—ended about 10 minutes after the Sheriff’s Air 29 helicopter crew activated their siren and asked the glider via a P.A. system to land. The 67-year-old Northridge man piloted his glider to a Santa Clarita Valley paintball center’s parking lot where he was detained by police. He then apologized and claimed it was the wind that pushed him closer to the jail, the Santa Clarita Valley Signal reports.
Deputies said they didn't see any contraband drop, nor did police find any contraband on the glider's person when he was detained. They let him go, but are still investigating the incident. Sgt. Brian Allen of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department called the incident an “unusual situation,” saying he’d never seen anything like it before.
Last month, a drone in Ohio dropped a package full of drugs into a prison yard.
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