SHOCKING footage shows the moment a man leaps from his fifth-floor balcony into a pool to escape police.
As he dangles from the edge of the balcony a cop tries to pull him back over the ledge, but he lets go, plummeting down into the water.
Stunned onlookers said the man climbed from the pool and kept running from cops after his reckless jump.
And someone who lived nearby said the man ran through his own back garden as he tried to flee.
The footage shows him crouched on the ledge, surveying the drop beneath him.
He then swings himself off, dangling from his fingertips off what is presumably his apartment balcony.
His flat, in Palm Beach, Australia, looks to be around five floors up.
As his legs writhe mid-air he tries to clamber back to safety, but struggles to get a grip on the flat stone.
When a cop appears on the balcony he doesn’t rush to pull the man back over, or offer him a hand very quickly.
They look to be having a brief conversation before he eventually reaches over the ledge.
But at this point the man lets go, falling into the pool metres below as his arms and legs flail.
Cops believe the man was under the influence of illegal substances at the time, 9news reports.
One of his neighbours, Errol, said: “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
And Seth, who saw the man running through his garden, said: “I thought he needed help so I rang an ambulance.
“He was just going a bit crazy I think.”
Police finally caught the man, in his 30s, later that afternoon.
He had fled the apartment complex on foot and made a beeline for his parents house.
Cops haven’t charged him with anything yet as they continue their investigations.
And miraculously he is thought to have only suffered minor injuries in the dramatic fall.
