LEWISTON — A man trying to escape police by attempting to jump from a fifth-floor balcony to a  nearby tree is lucky to be alive after plunging five stories to the ground Monday night.

Lt. Mark Watson, of the Lewiston Police Department, said that 27-year-old John Esty Jr., of Lewiston, jumped off a balcony at 295 Bates St. shortly before 10 p.m. when officers arrived to arrest him on a probation hold. He was transported to Central Maine Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Watson said he did not know the nature of the probation hold. He said authorities were still trying to determine who lived in the apartment where Esty jumped from, and that the case remains under investigation.

Neighbors gathered outside and watched from the windows of the apartment building as paramedics wheeled Esty out from the back of the building. One woman said he was trying to jump from the balcony to a tree branch, but missed the tree.

“Somehow, I’m guessing a night at the county jail is better than what just happened back there,” the woman said.