A hiker in Arizona was found dead on Monday, Jan. 24, after he reportedly fell 700 feet from a cliff while attempting to take a selfie at the peak of the state’s Superstition Mountains near Phoenix.
Twenty-one-year-old Richard Jacobson’s body was found over 700 feet away from their campsite at the Flatiron Summit in the Superstition Mountains at Lost Dutchman State Park, after his hiking partner called 911 when the young man fell, CBS News reported.
His hiking partner was airlifted out of the premises, distraught at witnessing Jacobson’s death, while the police have deemed the incident an accident after more details regarding his death have surfaced in their investigation, according to the Daily Beast.
The police said that Jacobson was attempting to get a selfie of himself with the skyline of the city of Phoenix when he slipped and fell. They used an Arizona Department of Public Safety Ranger helicopter in their attempt to recover Jacobson’s corpse from the trail, according to the New York Post.
“Mr. Jacobson went to go take a photograph with himself and the city skyline in the background, and he lost his footing, and he slipped, and he fell,” Sergeant Doug Peoble said. “I can tell you that during our investigation, there [were] no signs of foul play. No signs of drug use whatsoever. It was just a very tragic accident.”
“He was just my companion in that sense,” Andrew Thomas, who did missionary work with Jacobson for three months in 2020, said about his friend. “I spent all my waking hours with Richard, so I got to know him pretty well...he was an outdoorsman, hunter, hiker. He did stuff like that, so I guess he did die doing what he loved to do, just in a tragic way.”
Dying from taking selfies are not as uncommon as you think: for example, a married couple fell off a cliff and died in 2018 at Yosemite National Park while they were taking a selfie; over 259 people died from selfie-related incidents between 2011 and 2017.
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