21-year-old Richard Jacobson tragically fell to his death this past Thursday, January 27, 2022, after successfully hiking up a mountain with his friends. The unfortunate incident occurred at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, Arizona, where sources say the young man slipped off the peak of Flatiron Summit (a popular 5.50-mile hiking trail) while leaning over the edge in an attempt to take a selfie. Reports state that Jacobson’s body was found laying on rocks approximately 400 to 700 feet below the spot that he had fallen from.
Sergeant Doug People with the Arizona Department of Public Safety was the one to release the news when he stated, “Mr. Jacobson went to take a photograph with himself and the city skyline in the background, and he lost his footing, and he slipped, and he fell.” He went on to add, “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.” Officials of the search and rescue team working on the case also claimed how this specific occurrence was a “rare, tragic accident” in hopes of never having to deal with an easily preventable situation like this again.
“He was an outdoorsman, hunter, and hiker. He did stuff like that, so I guess he did die doing what he loved to do, just in a tragic way,” Jacobson’s close friend Andrew Thomas publicly said about him. “He really was one of those guys that everyone loved, and it is sad to lose him, but we know that it is not the end,” Thomas added. “We are going to see him again.” Even with the probability of this specific scenario happening is extremely thin, a respected 2018 study shows that the ‘most common way people die from taking selfies is from getting hit by a vehicle, drawing, or falling.