Video shows vandals destroying popular Oregon rock formation

David Kalas of Hillsboro, Ore., tells oregonlive.com he began recording when he spotted a group of people trying to knock over the Cape Kiwanda sandstone pedestal.

The formation was perched behind a fence in an area the the parks department pleaded with visitors not to cross: Since 2009, seven people have died when the park’s sandstone cliffs crumbled and they fell into the ocean or onto rocks.

“I didn’t think anything would happen”. “All eight of them got it to, you know, wobble, then five of them backed off and the other three kept going, kept going, kept pushing”. They apparently noticed a crack, and they kept rocking and working at the rock until it toppled and shattered. According to Kalas and his friend, who witnessed the entire event, the group of vandals defended their destruction of state property. “I asked them, you know, why they knocked the rock down and the reply I got was: their buddy broke their leg earlier because of that rock and that’s why they toppled it down”, Kalas said. “It’s like their weird revenge thing”, he added.

“Rules prohibit visitors from destroying natural features intentionally”, state parks spokesman Chris Havel told The Oregonian.

A similar episode in Utah caused an online uproar, Fox News reported.

Then department officials saw a video that had been posted on August 29 by David Kalas.

Despite destroying an irreplaceable ancient landmark, the pair was sentenced only to probation.

People are hoping that someone will be able to identify the mischievous group and that authorities would take some action once they are tracked down.

It is unclear if the vandals will face charges from the parks department.

Since then, however, drone footage posted on Twitter has revealed that a group of vandals gathered around the structure and purposefully tore it down.