diff --git a/src/selectors.cc b/src/selectors.cc
index a64380406..c7e126b39 100644
--- a/src/selectors.cc
+++ b/src/selectors.cc
@@ -560,11 +560,11 @@ select_paragraph(const Context& context, const Selection& selection,
     BufferIterator first = buffer.iterator_at(selection.cursor());
 
     if (not (flags & ObjectFlags::ToEnd) and first.coord() > BufferCoord{0,1} and
-        *(first-1) == '\n' and *(first-2) == '\n')
+        is_eol(*(first-1)) and first-1 != buffer.begin() and is_eol(*(first-2)))
         --first;
     else if ((flags & ObjectFlags::ToEnd) and
              first != buffer.begin() and (first+1) != buffer.end() and
-             *(first-1) == '\n' and *first == '\n')
+             is_eol(*(first-1)) and is_eol(*first))
         ++first;
 
     BufferIterator last = first;
diff --git a/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/cmd b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/cmd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..957dd0c19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/cmd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+j<a-[>p
diff --git a/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/in b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..139597f9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/in
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+
+
diff --git a/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/kak_selection_desc b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/kak_selection_desc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ac6a6d5b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/3489-crash-on-paragraph-begin/kak_selection_desc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+2.1,1.1