Son tries to save father from falling off rocky ledge but both plunge to death in abandoned Connecticut quarry
A father and son both plunged 75 feet to their deaths when they fell into an abandoned quarry in Connecticut. Steven Price, 71, of Bristol, and his son, Mark Price, 31, of Plainville, were riding all-terrain vehicles at the old Tilcon quarry with another man in Farmington on September 18 just before the incident. Mark Price, the son, fell in when he attempted to save his father, according to their former boss Dan Siracusa of Siracusa Moving & Storage.
Mark is survived by his 3-year-old daughter. "The father had walked over, about 7 to 10 feet from the edge, and then hit uneven ground,” Siracusa revealed. “He then started to tumble and the son grabbed him, but they went down together and fell 75 feet onto rocky ledges and jagged rocks below.” He also commented on how both men's bodies were "smashed up" when they fell on the rough terrain from such a height.
The elder Price had retired after working for 15 years for the company but he would come in from time to time to do odd jobs and repairs. He was a cancer survivor who had recently received a clean bill of health after losing around 50 pounds because of his treatment. His son, Mark, had been working for Siracusa Moving & Storage for 10 years, driving trucks. According to Siracusa, their co-workers were shaken by their deaths, especially the man who was with them and saw them fall.
According to this unidentified eyewitness, quoted by Siracusa, Mark had risked his life to save his father. "He grabbed onto him and wouldn’t let go until the point that he got pulled down, too,” he revealed. When this happened, the eyewitness rode his ATV to a nearby Subway restaurant and called the police. According to the call records, the caller said: "They fell off the side of the cliff. His dad went to look at something, tripped — he went to grab him and they both fell.” Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. The quarry, closed to the public, had not been used since the 1980s. Calling the incident "surreal", Siracusa said there were a lot of tears and people were shocked. "You talk to a guy one day before and now he’s gone".