Skydiver Dies In Fitzgerald
During annual ‘Fitz Boogie’ skydiving event
FITZGERALD, GA – The Tiftarea Grapevine newsletter is reporting the following:
An experienced jumper died in a skydiving accident Saturday afternoon during a skydiving event in Fitzgerald.
It was the second skydiving fatality in Fitzgerald in eight years. There was also a hot-air balloon fatality there in 2012.
Joe Santiago “Hollywood” Rivera, 42, of White, Ga., outside Cartersville, was pronounced dead at Dorminy Medical Center in Fitzgerald after he “took a hard landing after some type of high-risk landing” at Paulk Park, said Mark Shealy, Ben Hill County coroner.
Fitzgerald Police Chief William Smallwood Jr. said Rivera was “coming in to land and trying to perform a high-speed maneuver called a Swoop. He apparently just misjudged the clearance and the height.”
Rivera was “very highly experienced and had done thousands of dives,” Smallwood told the Tifton Grapevine.
The accident occurred before a large audience at the 19th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Fitz Boogie skydiving event at the Fitzgerald Municipal Airport. The police chief and coroner said the accident happened shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday.
Rivera was a native of Paterson, N.J., and the father of four children. He was a teammate with Seamless Rigging, a parachute rigging service.
On social media, Seamless Rigging said that it “lost a great father, man, and teammate. … He loved all this community had to offer and lived to the fullest.”
Bennie Hauna, a pilot who dropped skydivers Saturday from a Bell 206 helicopter, wrote on social media that he “met Joe (Rivera) on the ride up. We had a brief chat before he jumped. He kept us safe by having me wait for the canopies overhead to land before we took off. He also kept an eye out for jumpers while I made our climb up.
“As a newer jump pilot, it was very helpful to have him up front with me. He was super happy and kind, but focused and in the zone mentally, preparing to jump. Just an all-around professional. It tore me up to find out what happened when I landed.”
In October 2015, another skydiver died at the Fitzgerald Airport during a tandem skydiving event when his parachute failed to open. In March 2012, a man died in a hot-air balloon accident after it took off during a festival in Fitzgerald.
There is no other information about this incident at this time.
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