By Deborah Hastings
NY Daily News
NEW YORK — New York City Department of Corrections officer Gary Messina died in a freak mini-tornado, the director of the United States Parachute Association tells the Daily News.
“It was an accident,” said Rich Winstock. “It can be 100% attributed to a weather anomaly. It was a mini-tornado,” or dust devil, as skydivers call them.
The funnel system of wind and dirt renders a parachute inoperable. Messina, 25, died Wednesday and his instructor, Christopher Scott, 28, was critically injured when they lost control of their parachute during a tandem jump on Long Island.
Full story: ‘Dust devil’ caused skydiving accident that killed NYC correction officer