I did a jump from a church in Utrecht, The Netherlands august 1999 and got busted by the police. They put me in jail for 4 hours, confiscated my gear for 1,5 years and charged me for several things:
1) Putting a third party (a passing woman on a bike, which I did not see at all, while a video shows she is standing under the trees) in danger.
2) Violating local city police laws.
3) Putting a craft into the air without proper documentation.
4) Violiating environmental laws.
In april 2001 (yes, that long) I passed through court and they ruled that only issue nr. 1 was proven and they fined me for 560 Euro, of which 220 Euro unconditional. My arguments that I had taken all possible precautions not to put anyone in danger (jumping early in the morning, phone contact between exit point and landing zone, good weather conditions, etc.) and that I had done something not written down into our (air)law system found no ground.
I filed for an appeal, which was passed last week. Further legal arguments by me and my lawyer did not help. The verdict remained the same. I am out of funds to continue this legal battle. I also feel is it pretty useless as lawmakers/judges don’t know what to do with it and just want to set an example. On the other hand, judges refrained from prohibiting BASE jumping. Eg.: it is not forbidden so it is allowed. Only thing is, make sure you don’t put anyone into danger (although this is quite vague)
Lesson to learn: if you jump in the Netherlands and get caught, they might argue that you put people into danger, with a risk of a fine of 220 Euro. So, jump real early in the morning or at night, or just either run fast or walk away low profile and don’t get caught. You might also consider not jumping when you see police below you.
Ronald Overdijk
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