A security guard on South Neville Street heard a parachute snap open above him Thursday night, then watched two men drift down out of the dark sky and land in the parking lot right in front of him. Pittsburgh Police found the pair, identified as Bader Abulaban and Jason Stanicar, sitting in a truck trying to leave the lot. Both men were arrested on felony trespass and conspiracy charges.
According to CBS Pittsburgh, police say the two parachuted off a building under construction on the Carnegie Mellon University campus. The exact launch point was unclear — police say the men may have jumped from the new Richard King Mellon building itself or from a crane at its construction site, which sits directly across the street from the parking lot where they landed. When questioned, Abulaban and Stanicar told officers they were visiting a friend.
That building under construction is Carnegie Mellon's $252 million, 338,900-square-foot Richard King Mellon Hall of Sciences at Forbes Avenue and South Craig Street, according to R3A Architecture. The seven-story complex, designed to house computer science and science departments above a 130-space underground garage, broke ground in April 2024, reached its steel topping-off milestone this past summer, and is scheduled to open in fall 2027.
A Familiar Face in Pennsylvania BASE Jumping Circles
A Familiar Face in Pennsylvania BASE Jumping Circles Abulaban was cited for trespassing in 2022 after BASE jumping from a windmill in Somerset County, per the same CBS Pittsburgh report. He later pleaded guilty to that citation and was fined $875.
Stanicar has his own history of filmed extreme jumps. Para Gear published a video in June 2022 showing a “Bucket Truck BASE Jump” stunt. The 2022 video predates Thursday's arrest, when the two men were caught trying to leave.
What the Charges Could Mean
What the Charges Could Mean Under Pennsylvania's criminal trespass statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3503, entering or surreptitiously remaining in a building or occupied structure without authorization is generally graded as a third-degree felony, while entering by force, intimidation, or an unauthorized lock is graded as a second-degree felony. A third-degree felony is punishable by up to seven years in prison and fines as high as $15,000, according to the SKA Law Group. The two men also face conspiracy charges.
Pennsylvania law does offer a possible defense line: under 18 Pa.C.S. § 3503(c), it is an affirmative defense to criminal trespass if the accused reasonably believed the property owner or an authorized entity would have permitted them to enter or remain. That provision could become relevant given that Abulaban and Stanicar told police they were visiting a friend when questioned about how they ended up on the construction site.
Part of a Pattern of Urban Jumps in Pittsburgh
Thursday's landing follows a string of unauthorized parachute incidents around the city. In March, Hoodline reported that Pittsburgh Police investigated a man who leaped from a downtown building near the 600 block of Washington Place at 7 a.m. and fled on foot before officers could reach him. And in April 2025, two individuals BASE jumped from 1 PPG Place in downtown Pittsburgh, prompting its own police investigation into unauthorized high-rise leaps.
Urban BASE jumping like Thursday's incident can create real hazards for pedestrians and vehicle traffic because of unexpected landings in parking lots and streets. Carnegie Mellon has also faced other recent security concerns; in a case Hoodline covered in April, a contracted vendor employee was arrested and charged with multiple dormitory burglaries after campus police issued campus-wide lookout alerts.
It remains unclear how Abulaban and Stanicar gained access to the active construction site. It's also unknown whether prosecutors will pursue the felony charges to indictment or whether they might be reduced, and campus officials have not indicated whether they plan any specific new security measures at high-rise development sites following this latest incident.
