Friends filmed fatal quarry jump
65-foot leap made famous in cycling movie “Breaking Away”
BLOOMINGTON – A young man who drowned in a southern Indiana quarry died after making a 65-foot leap from an imposing ledge made famous in the movie “Breaking Away,” police said.
Walter Ayala of Washington jumped Saturday into Sanders Quarry from “Rooftop” ledge, an imposing ledge from which actors in the 1979 film jumped into the quarry in Bloomington.
Friends of the 18-year-old filmed his jump and continued shooting until they jumped in to try to save him after he failed to resurface.
Divers soon reached Ayala, but he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
An autopsy Monday found the death “consistent with drowning,” said Nicole Meyer, Monroe County’s chief deputy coroner.
Ayala and two friends were in town Saturday to watch the state high school track championships, then later visited the quarry.
Footage from his digital camera shows Ayala was apparently injured when he hit the water’s surface after making his leap, a Monroe County police report said.
“He hit the water with his face forward and it appeared that his head snapped back when he hit the water,” the report said. “He did not resurface.”
Police released chilling images Monday taken from Ayala’s camera showing him and his friends jumping off various cliffs and walking near Sanders Quarry.
In short video clip, Ayala films the spot where he would soon make his fatal plunge.
“This is supposed to be scary,” he said in the clip.
The Academy Award-winning “Breaking Away” was about the Little 500 bicycle race held annually at Indiana University since 1951.
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