Friends live to tell the tale of plunging 300 feet off Arizona cliff
PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. - A car plunged 300 feet over a cliff in Pinal County on May 20, and the two men who were inside are alive to tell the tale.
Twenty-two-year-old Braden Faulk is still shaking from the crash that happened on Monday night.
He was driving through Arizona to celebrate his birthday with a friend. Instead, they had a near-death experience.
It's a story of survival that defies all logic.
"It almost made me break down," Faulk said when he looked at photos of the wreck.
He’s reminded of the miracle he encountered.
"I’m not a very emotional person and when I saw it, I was like ‘yeah, there’s no way we survived this,’" he said.
He and his friend were taking a road trip on SR 88 near Apache Junction.
"The sun had just gone down a few minutes before," Faulk remembered.
He recalls taking a sharp turn when the wheels hit gravel.
"There was an animal running in the road. Kind of the same direction I was going, so I tried to go around it," he said.
Then, they fell.
"We rolled probably 300 feet over boulders and cactus and stuff like that. Then there was a drop off and the car fell, directly onto the roof of the vehicle. Another 300 feet. Just free falling," he said.
Time froze.
"It definitely felt like it took nine years for us to quit moving," he said.
Then, the fall stopped.
"I thought that was it right there," Faulk said.
Car plunges 300 feet off cliff in Pinal County, fire department says
Two men survived after their car went off the side of a cliff in Pinal County and plunged about 300 feet.
To his amazement, he opened his eyes. His 2016 Subaru WRX was flipped on its roof. His friend was injured, but alive too.
Braden ran up the hill hurt to get help. First responders repelled down the cliffs to get his friend.
A helicopter flew him to a local hospital.
"We don’t really know what would have happened if they weren’t wearing their seat belts," said Sophie Boukatch, firefighter and paramedic for Supersition Fire and Medical District.
She says the route they were on could be quite dangerous.
"It’s very winding, there are tight turns, especially at night. We don’t have streetlights out there, it’s very dark," Boukatch said.
Through all that, Faulk received a valuable gift. Knowledge.
He says that even through his struggles, he is on this Earth for a purpose.
"That gave me reassurance. That everything, at some point, is going to be OK. You are here for a reason," Faulk said.
He's still bruised and in pain, but says he’s focused on recouping and buying a new car.
A GoFundMe was set up to help the victims and it can be found here: https://gofund.me/81a1b3e2