US /

Utah Boy Killed By Falling Tombstone

Carson Cheney was helping dad take photos when accident occurred
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 8, 2012 7:44 AM CDT
Utah Boy Killed By Falling Tombstone
This undated photo provided by the family via Park City Medical Center shows Carson Dean Cheney, 4, who died July 5, 2012 after a large tombstone fell and hit the boy.   (Family Photo)

A 4-year-old Utah boy was helping his father by trying to make other children smile for a picture when a 6-foot-tall tombstone that weighed hundreds of pounds fell on the boy and killed him at a historic cemetery, family members and friends said. Carson Dean Cheney was with his family in the resort town of Park City on Thursday evening when the headstone toppled onto him after some metal connecting it to its pedestal broke, his grandmother Geri Gibbs told the AP. She said it took three men to pull the stone off of Carson.

The boy's father, Zac Cheney, does photography in his spare time and was taking portraits of another family at the Glenwood Cemetery, said Curtis Morley, a co-worker and family friend. They chose the old cemetery because of its extensive landscaping, he said. Morley said some of the children being photographed were not being responsive, so Carson tried to help his dad by pretending to be a leprechaun and making them laugh. The boy went behind a tombstone and was poking his head out from behind it when it fell on him. "Carson passed away while trying to make others smile," said Morley. (More Utah stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X