NY trooper dies in fall into gorge during training
Nov 21, 2013, 12:31 AM
CASTILE, N.Y. (AP) – State police say a trooper has died after falling into the gorge at Letchworth State Park in western New York during high-angle rescue training.
Police say 44-year-old Trooper Ross Riley fell about 30 feet from a ledge into Wolf Creek around 1 p.m. Wednesday and died at Wyoming County Community Hospital.
Riley, a 17-year veteran, was an experienced rappeller and a member of a state police unit called the Special Operations Response Team based in Collins Center, 25 miles south of Buffalo. He was on a six-person team that helped save an injured hunter near the bottom of a 500-foot-high rock face in Zoar Valley Gorge in 2010.
Riley’s wife, Heidi Riley, is a state police station commander at Olean. They have three daughters.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)