After falling about 60 feet from a cliff, a Utah Highway Patrol Officer has died during rescue operations on Mount Olympus.
According to WTVT-TV, Aaron Beesley, 34, a 13-year veteran of the highway patrol, was part of an air unit conducting a search for two missing teens on the Mount Olympus Trail on Saturday afternoon.
When the teens were located by helicopter, Beesley was lowered to the ground to assist with the rescue. The teens were brought off the mountain and the helicopter returned to the top to pickup Beesley. His colleagues found him at the bottom of the cliff on his back and unresponsive.
It took rescue crews about 45 minutes to reach Beesley, where he was pronounced dead. His rescuers aren’t sure how he fell, but are guessing he was trying to pick up his backpack that fell off a minor drop and may have lost his footing when he went to retrieve it falling off the side of the mountain.
Beesley had previously worked in Davis, Weber and Box Elder Counties and had most recently been working as the tactical flight officer in helicopters.
Beesley, a resident of Box Elder County, leaves behind a wife, a 7-year-old and 5-year-old twin boys.
