Three men, tagged as Dave Hall, Glenn Taylor and Dylan Taylor, push over large rock boulders in Goblin Valley, Utah in this video posted to Hall's Facebook page.
A group of Boy Scouts leaders may face criminal charges after purposely knocking over an ancient Utah desert rock formation and posting a video of the incident online, authorities say
The men were leading a group of 14 to 16-year-old Boy Scouts on a trip to Goblin Valley State Park when they said they noticed the top of the rock formation was loose and feared it was dangerous.
"This is about saving lives," Dave Hall, who shot the video, told. "One rock at a time."
The rock formation is about 170 million years old, Utah State Parks spokesman Eugene Swalberg said. The park in central Utah is dotted with thousands of the eerie, mushroom shaped sandstone formations.
In a video posted on Facebook, Glenn Taylor of Highland, Utah, can be seen last Friday wedging himself between one formation and a boulder to knock a large rock off the formation's top.
Taylor and his two companions can then be seen cheering, high-fiving and dancing.
"This is not behavior that is appreciated or should exist in state parks," Swalberg told the Deseret News.
"This has been formed for literally millions of years, and it's supposed to last for a long time. It doesn't need individuals doing the work of Mother Nature."
Hall, who is also a scoutmaster from Highland, said some of their Scouts were jumping on the structures and they noticed a large boulder on top of one structure was loose.
"My conscience won't let me walk away knowing that kids could die," Hall said.
While safety was their motivation, Hall said, it was exciting to knock it over, and that's why they reacted with high-fives and cheers in the video.
"You can't have a rock the size of a car that you can push with one hand, and have it roll, and not have an adrenaline rush," Hall said. "It was a crazy, exciting moment."
The video has since been removed from Facebook.