BEDFORD CORNERS, N.Y. (AP) - Authorities say a skydiving instructor may have been knocked unconscious when his parachute deployed while on a tandem jump in the Hudson Valley, killing him and a Westchester County man making his first skydive.
Police in the Ulster County town of Plattekill tell local media outlets that eyewitness accounts from other jumpers nearby indicate that 25-year-old Alexander Chulsky of Brooklyn was knocked out by his chute during Friday afternoon's jump with 49-year-old David Winoker of Chappaqua.
Officials say the chute deployed briefly before the pair crashed to the ground while the chute spun out of control.
The jump was organized by Skydive The Ranch in Gardiner.
Police said Chulsky was an experienced skydiver with more than 900 jumps.
Winoker was skydiving as part of a friend's 50th birthday celebration.
