ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (ABC 4 News) - Sweetwater (Wyoming) County officials say a Green River teenager fell to his death from a cliff along the Green River on Sunday.
Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell and County Coroner Dale Majhanovich said Melvin C. Palmer, 15, and a 13-year-old companion were atop a rimrock cliff some 1.7 miles northwest of Green River when the mishap occurred about 1:30 PM.
The two boys were throwing rocks onto the ice and into the water in the river about 50 feet beneath them when Palmer, who was carrying a large rock at the time, stepped near the edge of the cliff when “the rock he was standing on moved,” as the other boy told deputies, and he fell.
County deputies and firefighters from the Green River Fire Department responded when the Sheriff’s Office Communications Center was notified and Deputy Sheriff Brad Freeman and another man performed CPR on Palmer at the river’s edge for about 20 minutes.
Crews hoisted Palmer to the clifftop, where he was placed in an ambulance and transported to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County in Springs. There he was declared dead by Emergency Room physicians.
An autopsy was conducted February 7 in Loveland, Colorado. Cause of death was determined to be head injuries sustained during the fall, determined to be the result of an accident. No foul play is suspected.
----Information from: Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office.
