Tragedy Strikes at Slide Rock State Park: Man Loses Life

A 48-year-old man died from a suspected heart attack while visiting Slide Rock State Park on Saturday, July 27, as reported by the Sedona Fire District and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, July 29.

“This individual did jump in the water, it was below the bridge,” stated CCSO spokesman Jon Paxton. “He gets out of the water, starts complaining to his family about chest pains, and then apparently at that point has a heart attack, or was in the process of having it, and then it came full on and that’s when medics were called.”

Alcohol did not appear to be a contributing factor, Paxton confirmed.

SFD received the distress call around 3 p.m. First responders arrived at 3:09 p.m., taking over from Arizona State Parks and Trails staff who were already administering an automatic external defibrillator and CPR. SFD chief Dori Booth mentioned that their crew had just completed another call at Slide Rock at 2:56 p.m., which allowed them to rapidly respond to this incident.

“Coordinating with our medical director, we performed lifesaving measures for approximately 50 minutes, where per medical direction and protocols through the hospital, the patient was pronounced deceased,” Booth stated.

CCSO received the call around 3:15 p.m. “With traffic it took us about an hour to get down there,” added Paxton. “By the time we got there, obviously medics were working on him.”

Once the man was pronounced deceased, the medical examiner was contacted and arrived around 5 p.m. The exact cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, although preliminary indications suggest a heart attack.